h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My "chicken" dish turned out to contain tuna and pollock instead of chicken. Otherwise, the ingredients were as I mentioned.

It seems to have become a "beef" week.

About 2.5 lbs of top round roast became about 14.5 oz of really nice jerky. A use of molasses, and a hint too much black pepper, has made a very nice blend of "sweet and heat".

A 6.75 lb beef heart gave me 2 x 750 ml jars of pickling meat and a hair over 7 oz of really tasty jerky.

And a remaining 14 to 16 oz thick hunk of sirloin steak will make a fine supper. Pan seared, oven finished in a black iron pan. Accompanied by baked potatoes, sauteed Spanish onion with cremini mushrooms, probably simple corn from frozen . . .

And there is still a roughly 15 oz slab of that top round roast to slice and make a fair beef stroganoff another day.

I rarely eat out at supper time, but this afternoon I went out to my brother's place to eat corned beef and cabbage (a supposedly traditional Saint Patrick's Day spread, though we're only about an eighth Irish, and it's mostly not the right *kind* of Irish , and anyway today wasn't St. Patrick's Day). By the time I was about 15 miles from home I got to the Natick Mall, where I walked around for a bit, had some coffee, and eventually decided to eat some Thai food in the food court. I'm glad I ordered some tofu for protein, as the shrimp dish only contained three shrimps.

Supper ended up just being a crisp and fresh garden salad.

The steak that I thought I had was, in fact, used for quick jerky almost 2 weeks ago. A freezer had 2 obvious slices of beef from a roast, that were intended to be small steaks. These were in my own vacuum seal packaging. There was also a larger measure of beef in a zip-bag, so I thawed that too. Oops, it proved to be 3 more such slices. Too much for the pan done dinner that I had planned.

So instead, that beef will be cubed, as will potatoes and carrots. Along with some corn, onions, cremini mushrooms, garlic, light seasonings and a black iron Dutch oven - - - a fairly full and rich stew should be Sunday and Monday supper.

Pork chop soup. I might substitute turkey for the pork, but a lot depends on what I find that looks good at the market.

Tonight is a multi-bean and chicken and mushroom stew/casserole/one-pot, I made last night... will probably last another two nights, after tonight, its got chickpeas, white kidney beans, plus mixed beans thrown in, about four tins of chopped tomatos, a kilogram or so of chicken breast, diced, and about a kilogram of onions, and the same of onions... with garlic, ginger, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, mustard seeds, and black pepper in it - would have been a lot spicier, but we omitted to buy any chilli peppers yesterday before I made it - oddly I think I prefer it just with the spices, minus the chillis

I thin you're gong to glow in the dark and send out scent for miles around when you eat it.

I am waiting for pork chop soup to finish cooking.

The beef stew worked out really well, I got 7 to 8 pretty fair servings from it. Of course, when it was about a half hour from ready - the Mrs Rev decided she didn't want any.

I hope she'll be all right.

Aside:

The December surgery resolved the run-away calcium problem. How-ever, to remove the 2nd bad micro gland, she lost the left lobe of her thyroid. That organ is not entirely back to normal operation.

Also, the left voice box control nerve got damages or seriously irritated. The result of that is that the left vocal cord is essentially paralyzed. With only the right side opening and closing and vibrating, breathing or coughing is more difficult. And her voice might last 10 to 40 seconds before beginning to break up. And Jeremiah the bull-frog makes an appearance.

Both conditions - thyroid function and voice - may recover in 3 to 12 months, or never. She is now a little more than 3 months post surgery, and the voice shows no sign of improving. Nerves can be very fickle.

Came down with pneumonia last week, spent the weekend hospitalized, F 5:00pm to M 5:00pm, subsisting on IV antibiotics and fluids, oxygen and hospital fare.

Home again today with a Mexican takeout order, a strawberry milkshake, and a week's supply of additional antibiotics, M 10:00pm.

More later after I re-read the backlog.

My two required hospital stays (first while after the heart failure), I must have been seriously ill. The hospital food was mostly quite good . . .

Good to hear that you are home again though.

Hospital fare, wholesome, filling, portions usually a little larger than I ordinarily eat, but monotonous, excessively bland.

Right at the moment I'm still deciphering the fright literature attached to the antibiotics (Levaquin) which looks unusually frightful.

Instructions say distinctly though, "don't quit the prescribed dosage even if you begin to feel better" and I am feeling better just before beginning the second course of antibiotics, per instructions, on the morrow.

Some such things need a little time to build up to the offensive level needed. Stopping - and then re-starting - just means the whole cycle begins again. Whether or not I feel a need, I do finish out the prescribed measures.

Tonight's supper will be cassoulet. I hope to buy some good turkey breast for it.

I have just begun an onion and mushroom gravy. I will brown off 3 pork sausages, about 8" long and 1.25" diameter, they will go into the gravy and bake in the oven for a time. There will then be mashed potatoes with a little garlic. And some simple green peas.

The simple lad's version of "bangers and mash".

The simple peas were green with envy when they saw their sophisticated cousins going into the Top Chef's Paella.

We both had a very busy Sunday, and I topped it off with a really nice supper. About 2.5 lb pork loin roast, roasted in the well aged and seasoned Romertopf with a little broth, carrots*, mushrooms* and potatoes. The meat was very tasty and so tender, and the broth made a very flavourful gravy. This was accompanied by seasoned oven roasted potatoes and some common mixed vegetables from frozen.

* The carrots and mushrooms were the result of some hours with my dehydrator. I also made some pretty tasty apple chips at the same time, but they had no place in the dinner.

I'm glad that you are enjoying your food so much, Nick.

Tonight I will make beef noodle soup. I need to find a recipe for it, though.

Chili dogs with cheese, smothered with spicy vegetable salsa.