You might be getting old when you are happy about the new shopping carts at the grocery store.

I shop at Mariano's here in the Chicago suburbs. I had to pick up a few items yesterday evening, so I stopped by. They have replaced their old bog-standard metal carts with plastic ones. Since the wheels haven't been beaten to death, they roll more easily, plus the carts are lighter and generally quieter. An all-around more pleasant experience.

Yes, apparently I am old.

For those of you who celebrate, happy Easter! Our Easter event is very small today, and so the prep work is limited.

Last night, while the Illini basketball team was getting their butts kicked by UConn, we went out to a new restaurant, The Local in Covington IN. We found out about them in a local magazine article which announced they had been featured in a national TV show. It's a small place - 40-ish seats, but with very good food. The owner chatted with us and apologized for her limited drink menu which was due to a lack of space (they don't have a bar area). Recommended.

In my perpetual Battle of (my own) Bulge, I have taken to keeping a food log and tracking calories consumed. It's helped - I'm down 15 pounds since the start of the process. However, I have a complaint, namely serving size.

I am fond of Marie Callender's frozen individual chicken pot pies. On the larger of the two sizes, it says right on the front "410 calories." Except, on the back, one finds that's 410 calories per serving. The individual pie is officially two servings! For those not up on math, that's a total of 820 calories per pie!

Now, I can sort of see this game with things like poptarts. Even though one gets two in a package, they are separate items and one can (and I do) eat one and put the other in a ziplock bag. But nobody eats half of an individual pot pie!

I now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming.

/signed/

Man Who Has Quit Eating Chicken Pot Pies

I Can Haz Clothes Dryer!

As reported previously, my clothes dryer went to that Great Laundry Room in the Sky. As my washing machine was well into senior citizen territory, I replaced them both with a pair of GE models. Said models are one step up from the entry-level machines, but had all the features I needed. (I do *not* need Wi-Fi on my laundry devices!) There was a hitch on getting the dryer installed (the team didn't have a needed part) but that's been resolved.

Both machines so far function as desired. I've noticed that my washing machine does a better job extracting water during the spin cycle, which appears to decrease the drying time. I'm told that the washing machine is a high-efficiency model and will consume less water as well. We'll see.

Dining Out

I went out to lunch yesterday - a business lunch, no less. We first went to a place (mid-tier chain) only to discover they weren't open for lunch on Tuesday. We went to another mid-tier place in the same parking lot. They were only about a third occupied, but they were at least one waiter short of what was needed. Given the time it took to get our orders, I'd say that they were at least one short in the kitchen.

I've seen these staff shortages at other places. Anecdotally, one of the things that's causing the problem is child care. Until schools open (which they are just starting to) getting staff is difficult. Also, a lot of the people who used to wait tables are now driving Amazon trucks or otherwise no longer in the market. This will eventually sort itself out, but it will take a while.

Two items of note (I guess) for Monday:

Item The First

My AC at the house blew up on Friday. The external compressor, which we believe was original to the house and thus 20+ years old, is beyond repair. So now I'm without AC for a week and gathering quotes for a new unit. I have two of three quotes in hand - there is an $1100 difference between them. Quote #3 is due today. Yes, Virginia, it pays to shop around.

Also due to the lack of AC, and thanks to relaxations of the COVID-19 rules at work, I see a couple of days in the office in my future.

Item The Second

For a variety of reasons, including the lack of AC on a day in the mid-80s, I went to the grocery store on a weekend. I was reminded of how much I dislike doing so. I've never been fond of crowds, and less so as I age.

I started doing weekday grocery shopping when I was unemployed. I resumed it during the pandemic back when they had capacity limits in stores. Now that I'm working from home, it's easy to nip over to the store right after work. I shall resume that practice immediately.

A few short thoughts:

1) I went to Shanahan's Pub over the weekend and had their burger salad. It was quite tasty.

2) I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. By going on weekdays and masking, I figure I'm doing my bit for social distancing. Apparently the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 is over. Not only were the shelves stocked, you could take unlimited quantities and some brands were on sale.

3) I watched the new Netflix movie "The Old Guard" last night. It was very good, with a lot of characterization to go with the action. Nicely done.

For various reasons I decided to physically go to the grocery store yesterday. (Mariano's in Westmont, for the curious.) I was able to make my visit at 1:00 PM on a weekday so there were no crowds. The experience was a bit surreal in that everybody was wandering around wearing facemasks. The shelves seemed reasonably-well stocked, although there were restrictions on the number of packages of toilet paper and paper towels one could buy. In any event, I was able to get all that I needed.

Just prior to the mid-March wave of panic buying, I hit the grocery store and purchased a few extra items, including a can of salmon. I am leaning very strongly towards using that next week to make salmon patties. I'll be modifying this recipe by adding a can of cream of mushroom soup as a gravy.

Further updates as events warrant.

I am working from home and am reasonably productive. However, since I am cooking more meals at home than I usually do, I decided to eat up some food items that have been cluttering up my cabinets. The first item on that list was a bag of egg noodles. for which I decided to make Beef Burgundy. THIS MAKES A LOT - 4 really hearty servings or 6 if you've got smaller appetites. I froze half of this batch.

Herewith is my recipe:

1.5 lb stew beef
1 small onion or 1/2 a large onion, diced
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 packet dried french onion soup
1 cup red wine (not cooking wine - drinking wine but 2 Buck Chuck works great here.)
1 soup can of water
1 small can diced mushrooms (optional)
4 servings noodles or rice

Brown meat and onion in a skillet. (When I did this, about halfway into the process I realized that the electric skillet my Mom sent me home with would have been perfect for the job.) Once the meat is browned and the onions cooked, drain off the grease then add everything except the noodles / rice. Simmer on medium heat for an hour, stirring occasionally.

About 45 minutes into the simmering, make your noodles or rice as per the package directions. When they are done, combine and eat.

Various news, provided for your amusement:

Books

Over the weekend, I reduced the price of the ebook edition of The Mars Run to 99 cents. That will be it's new permanent price. I also set it up so that if you buy the paper version you can get the ebook for free. We'll see if this spurs any sales.

Weekend Update

I did very little this weekend. It snowed all day Saturday in Chicago, so I felt no good reason to go out. I usually go out for dinner and cook a steak on Sunday, but I flipped the script on that. As a result, Sunday dinner was Cajun Pot Roast at Chuck's Southern Comforts Cafe, a local restaurant. It was very tasty.

Dreams

I have a recurring dream where I'm trying to get office work done. The problem is my workplace isn't an office, rather it's some kind of house poorly remodeled into an office. Either that or it's an old open space where the battered desks are partitioned off by old furniture. In any event, to make matters worse, there's a shortage of desk space and I keep getting moved out. I wonder what my dreams are trying to tell me.

Via that scientific method of dinking around on Facebook, I found a recipe for low-carb garlic butter meatballs. Herewith is my slight variation on that recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground chicken
5 cloves garlic
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 12 ounce packages frozen "zoodles" AKA veggie noodle spirals. I used one carrot and one zucchini

Prepare the zoodles as per the package directions, drain and set aside. While you're doing that, combine the chicken, 2 cloves garlic, the egg and the cheese in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper if desired (I did not so desire). Make into meatballs or if you want hamburger-sized patties. In large skillet, heat the oil and cook the meat for 10 minutes on medium heat, flipping as needed. Transfer meat to a plate.

Melt the butter and the remaining garlic in the skillet, then add zoodles and lemon juice. Toss and cook for a minute to get them back up to temperature. Then put the meat back in and get everything hot (1-2 minutes). Serve, garnished with more Parmesan.

Try not to eat the whole recipe in one sitting.