Mango?? Nope. Not there. Don’t taste it. Mango is unique. Mango is not just sweet. It’s nuanced and sometimes tart and fibery (it’s a word) and makes you feel Islandy (it’s a word).
Habanero? Ummm maybe a little black pepper or something. Go ahead and give it to your toddler – it’s fine. No heat. There’s almost nothing there. Those fiery Cheetos do more harm (btw love those).
There’s not much more to this post, I’m afraid. Don’t buy these chips. Also I wanted to say crisps because I’ve been watching Bridgerton but I fought the urge.
Soooooo I know I told you that I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts. I revert back and forth between informational ones and pure garbage. If I’m honest I still lean heavy on the garbage end. And I think I’ve decided that I’m an auditory learner. I’m never reading a book again! Just kidding. I just think it’s so much easier to retain what I’ve heard vs what I’ve read (also I can’t see anything anymore so there’s that). Anyway these podcasts are making me super interesting. I think I’m smarter too. I hardly ever use exclamation marks anymore! Are you rolling your eyes yet?
I heard one last week that has stuck with me. I think about it every day. It was about how people react to mistakes.
Mistakes. I make them. Everyday. Big ones. Small ones. Mean ones. Dopey ones. I’m a master mistake maker.
That doesn’t really bother me too much. Most of the time I know the intent was good. And I’ve been trying to do what I see many men do… just shrug it off. No apologies. No nothing. Just….oh yeah, that’s wrong. Oh well. Instead of sinking into the deep well of misery and self loathing which is my first instinct.
But the podcast wasn’t about mistakes. It was about how people, specifically leaders/parents/partners react to them.
When something goes wrong, where do you go first. The mirror or the window?
Are you drawn to the actions you created, the things you may have done to cause the error/fight/mistake/lapse in judgement – or do you immediately look to blame the outside world? Your partner, your child, your co-worker or colleague.
This isn’t rocket science. And those of you that are used to spending time thinking about deep things will probably think this is highly simplistic. But remember, I spent most of January still thinking about the Hilaria Baldwin scandal and whether or not I should get an eyeliner tattoo. I told you I lean garbage.
So this week I spent some time thinking about it. Spoiler alert, things went wrong this week. There were errors. F’ ups. Each time something happened I stopped and did the mirror/window approach. Another spoiler. I lean window! It seems that I think most of the things that go wrong in my life are the fault or actions of other people/things/situations. I’m really surprised by this in all seriousness.
In my mind I am very self-critical and hard on my actions. But in reality – I let myself off the hook pretty often. Like almost immediately. I’m like….oh that….I’m good. That’s that other moron’s fault. The storyline of my mistakes has me as the victim way too many times.
It’s a work in progress. I’m a work in progress.
Anyway just sharing. Today is Friday and it’s sunny. I’m going to go for a looooonnnngggg walk and listen to another podcast. Probably about Hilaria Baldwin or eyeliner tattoos.
Every Thursday night, my husband and I go out to dinner.
I don’t remember when or how it started. Our kids got older. Weekends were busy with family and friend stuff. But Thursday was a “free” day to sneak in a date night. Before Covid when I was still commuting, it was also the last day of my commute. Friday I worked from home and didn’t have the 5:30 am alarm (remember commuting? I kinda miss it. Just a little)
Sometimes we go fancy, but more times we keep it low key. I put on some make-up and he wears his dress crocs (yes).
Sometimes we go with other people, double date night!
Where we go depends on weather, mood, and our last good meal. We’ve been known to go to the same place for months if things go well. Sometimes we go locally, sometimes we go far. A lot of couples go out to try new places, try new food. That’s not a priority for us.
Before Covid our favorite way to have Thursday date night was to sit at the bar for dinner. Yes, we are those people.
Once or twice a year we make it an overnight and sneak into New York City. Treat ourselves to a hotel.
Unless we’re sick, the rule is you can’t miss it. Does it have to be magical? Hells no.
We’ve had plenty of good fights on date night. Lots of driving home in silence. But guess what? It’s fine. We can try again next week.
Sometimes we talk about work or kids or family. Sometimes we talk about money or vacations or bills. Most often we talk about the day. We keep it light. This isn’t the night to solve major problems or make big decisions.
When things started shutting down last March, our date nights came to an abrupt halt. We spent the next few months eating at home and sheltering in. Which was nice too. Then, in early summer, things started slowly opening up. We were back in business… kind of. But it was better than nothing.
This pic is one of our earliest dates. Look at those young, care-free kids with the good hair.
Here’s the years since…
Pre-masks!
Why does be make faces?? I dunno. That’s for another post.
This is not a sign of things to come. In no way does this frame the rest of this year. This is just a little blip. 2021 will still be full of positive outcomes and good intentions. That’s what I’ve been repeating to myself for the last few hours.
This post was supposed to be called FRYday. Cute right? It’s Friday… I was going to post a fried appetizer recipe. I had a plan.
To make things even more interesting the recipe was an original. Totally my invention…well kind of. Years ago Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond fame had a very short lived show on Food Network. I watched every episode. It was the mash-up of my two favorite things – food tv and sitcoms. One of the episodes was on a leek dip. I’d never made leeks before and it looked delicious. I started making it for holidays and book clubs and gatherings. It was a hit! I mean I liked it.
Anyway back to my fail.
Today is the new year. I wanted to make something special. Something celebratory. I’ve also been a bit obsessed with frying things lately. No, I don’t have an air fryer. Yes, I know you love yours and I should get it too. But I’m not going to. So anyhoo, do you fry shit? Like in actual oil? It’s hard. I’m telling you it’s not easy.
I’ve also been thinking about wonton wrappers. Is that weird?
So I decided to take the leek dip recipe and combine with a cream cheese wonton recipe. Leeks, goat cheese, cream cheese and dill. Delicious right?
Ok here’s how it started…
Leeks, goat cheese, cream cheese, dill, butter and wonton wrappers Leeks are dirty. Chop and soak in water Dry them and wring out any water Sauté the leeks in about a tablespoon of butter
So far so good right?
Once done you’ll combine with the cheeses and dill (it’s dill heavy)
Basically now you’ve almost made the dip. The only thing I didn’t add is the cream.
This is when things started going downhill. Now you heat the oil.
Heat about 2 cups of the oil in a small pot
Why a small pot? I dunno. I’m scared of hot oil and it makes me feel better if it’s in a small pot. My mother and my aunts would laugh at this sad display. They use a wok like large pot with atleast a full bottle of oil. DANGER!!!
Now on to the wontons. I don’t know if I got the right ones. They said vegan. Are all wontons vegan? I’m pretty sure I didn’t go to the right place to find them. They were next to the kimchi so I assumed all was well. Who knows.
I started the construction.
(I forgot to tell you that you also need an egg wash. Just one egg and 2 tablespoons of wager)
Still looking ok…. but wait for it… wait for it….
Ummm what the hell is that? Ok, new plan. New shape.
Ok that’s better. But big. I wanted them smaller. One bite size.
Then I started failing… err… I mean frying.
Then I tried another shape. This is before I gave up and started eating cookies.
Look at those sad little babies. Unloved. Misshaped. Cooked unevenly. Sigh….
Btw – these are the best ones. There were 50 others that I couldn’t/didn’t even photograph to save my dignity.
I packed up the rest of the filling which I’ll freeze and use as it was meant to be. I’m sorry Patricia Heaton. I should have stuck to the plan.
Well, nothing like spending 3 hours on 5 appetizers. Good times.
Frying food. It’s not for amateurs. First lesson of the year.
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