Emchap's Shit from the Internet 09/30/20 🍠
We’ve entered the portion of quarantimes where I’m fogged down by depression and fear most of the time, but do get periodic bursts of energy. This weekend was one of those; I chose to use the burst pursuing what passes for a craft activity in my life in 2020.
I say “passes for a craft” because what I wound up doing was taking a grout pen (which truly a sharpie paint pen by any other name) and by hand coloring on the grout lines for my entire kitchen countertop and then the wall. I have countertops made of white tile, around four inches square, so there’s a fair amount of grout. Because it’s a kitchen, and an old rental whose maintenance standards are a solid "you tried,” the grout is revolting no matter how much it’s scrubbed at.
So, rather than doing anything to convince my landlord to really fix it, I covered everything up with white paint. It was meditative, sort of how I imagine coloring books are supposed to be. And, at the end, it really did look much better than when I’d started. I got to feel the glow of a DIY project come to its logical end. It is the small spark of joy for the week.
I took Friday and Monday off of work. I’m hoping to eat cookie cake in the park with my friend. Things could be worse.
Shit to read
Right now, I’m reading Anne Helen Peterson’s new book on burnout. I am having some trouble getting through it (because of my burnout) but it’s very good.
I thought this piece on aging was just phenomenal.
A story about very courageous children of horrible fathers.
Absolutely bleak and tremendous story about r/unemployment. We live in a failed state.
It is hard not to think about this a lot.
Shit to eat
In a bowl, combine a quarter cup soy sauce, a tablespoon sesame oil, a squirt of sriracha (or more if you are not me with a tiny little baby mouth), a tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of water, and a teaspoon of cornstarch. Whisk it with a fork. There will be some lumps. It’s fine.
Take a sad cabbage out of your fridge. If you are me, the cabbage will have been frozen and thawed, making it remarkably damp. Squeeze out the water.
Chop the cabbage up into bits. Bite-sized-ish. Put them in a bowl.
Add to the cabbage whatever chopped-up produce is going bad in the fridge. I used two bell peppers and some left-over takeout rice.
Open up a package of sausage (also thawed from the freezer) and chop it up into bite-sized parts. I used apple-cheddar chicken sausages, but you don’t have to. Put them in their own bowl.
Finally, grab the last cup of frozen cashews out of your freezer.
Heat a big pan and some oil in it over medium. Add the cashews, cook them for four-ish minutes until they are golden brown.
Scoop them out onto a plate and salt them. Snack on them the rest of the meal prep time.
Add the sausage, kick things up to medium high. Leave as-is for three minutes, then stir around for three minutes. Scoop out and add to the cashews.
Put half the vegetables in the pan and leave for four minutes. The cabbage will begin to char.
Add the rest, stirring, for another six minutes. Salt and pepper everything.
Once everything looks wilty, toss the nuts and meat back in and stir.
Toss in the sauce you made earlier. Poke everything around in the pan until it’s all sauced.
Kill the heat, sprinkle a bunch of dill in there, adjust salt to taste, and enjoy.
(Adapted from this sauce recipe and this stirfry.)
Shit to listen to
I’ve been listening to an embarrassing amount of pirate-themed metal music this week. So, you know, if that’s your deal. It’s like if the Dropkick Murphys played DnD.
Shit to buy
Fuck, man. Give your money to mutual aid funds. I’m getting a burrito.