Again, a rather uneventful week. I suppose I could complain about the unseasonably warm weather, but I’m kind of enjoying being outside. I want it to feel like December, but this is also nice. I took my time cruising the campus on the golf cart. Why not? Nothing was happening. After last week being stuck like a fly in a spider web, I was staying out of there as much as I could.
I conformed to the neighborhood. I put a little Christmas tree at my curb. I was going to do it until I saw some on my street. WTH, it’s kind of fun. If it’s a new tradition I will welcome it. This year more so than any, new traditions that life the spirit are all so welcome. Maybe next year I’ll “spruce” it up a little bit. No pun intended.
It might look better than the campus tree. This thing was pretty the last few years but they decided to “upgrade” to a 20 footer. I just don’t like it. Can’t get behind it. Eye sore. No no.
I also thought our office could use a little bit of holiday cheer so I found a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I’ll only be in the office for another 4 days but my coworkers can enjoy it for another 8 days. Now that I have it I’ll decorate the office every year. It plays Linus & Lucy but I didn’t put the batteries in. I can see that being abused.
Speaking of work. Ever since we got back from the Thanksgiving holiday the cleaning crew has been driving me insane. It’s like blitzkrieg at 8AM. I just can’t take it. 3 people show up and mop, vacuum, and generally crowd our tight office space. It’s too much commotion too early. None of us like it. I immediately fall into a bad mood. I told my boss that I’d just start taking vacation and show up at 8:30 once they have all left.
Exciting week, right?
Jalapeño
Chorizo potato egg tacos. I was cooking the potatoes just fine and when my back was turned someone added the raw chorizo. I cook these separate and add them together for a reason. The end product was good but not exactly the texture I was going for. Nothing that I’d share with a friend.
Comfort food. Mac & cheese, green beans and grilled chicken. Simple and to the point.
Red enchilada chicken with a sunny side up egg. All I cooked was the egg, Bekah did the rest.
Skirt steak fajita with bells and onion. Pico, ranchero sauce and queso. Delish.
Bunless burgers, classic style.
Tikka Masala. Bekah pointed out that’s it had been a while since I’ve cooked this. Easy and delicious.
Chick-fil-A nugget tray & Domino’s pizza. Bekah had company so this was it.
Down with the pumpkins. Sad day. My favorite seasonal decor. I got my worth out of them. They have been making me happy since September. It’s still a little sad to have them down.
I have a pumpkin problem..
I was off Monday and Bekah stayed home sick so we put up all the Christmas decor. I realize I have so much more fall and I need to work on my Christmas. It was fun decorating. A tradition that we do it together. I wish she had felt better and was able to enjoy it more.
December cheese advent. A treat everyday. I wanted a wine advent? A whisky advent. But this will have to do.
No students until January 25th. Staff working in skeleton shifts. It’s going to be a long December. I had one of the most boring weeks. Perpetual boredom. I did… nothing. I spent more time browsing the web & on my phone than I did doing anything work related. I mean, I vanished for over an hour one day and no one even missed me. WHY ARE WE HERE!!!! I think because many people are “working” from home makes it all the worst. I feel like a prisoner. Am I a little jealous? Maybe a bit at times.
Really not much to talk about. Clearly nothing eventful transpired. If the rest of the month is this boring maybe I’ll take it all off.
Song of the Week:
Jalapeño
I got a good idea from another foodie that I know. Tamales and fried eggs. I picked up some chicken tamales, made a green sauce and fried up some eggs. Don’t forget the beans. What a treat this was.
Teriyaki chicken over sticky rice. This meal was extra extra spicy.
Chick-fil-A rip off nuggets and scalloped potatoes. Comfort meal all the way. I even had some Chick-fil-A Polynesian sauce.
My own orange chicken stir-fry. The little time it takes to make the sauce is SO worth it.
Broccoli cheese chicken soup. This turned out to be a delicious meal on a cold night. Pure comfort food.
Queso burger. I wanted Velveeta. Eating a block of melted cheese sounded great. Well, I was out of f***ing chips!!! I just made a beef patty mixed with jalapeño, onion & cilantro. Cover with melted gold. Super duper dinner!!!
I grew up on science fiction that doesn’t mean I want to live in it.
A two day week. What a joke. The campus was a ghost town. I tried to spend time visiting with the friends I had that were still around. Why are we here? No one is doing anything. Again, what a joke. I spent most my time driving around trying to find things to do.
Wednesday I had to myself. I managed to sleep in till 9ish Went for a walk. Decided I needed some new sunglasses so I went for a quick shopping trip. Store was packed. Went for another walk. Middle brother came in so went to visit. Have some drinks. I cooked. It was a nice evening.
I crawled through this as a child. Common find in the mornings.
Thanksgiving. Bekah & I couldn’t do our usual tradition where we go to a diner and drink coffee and have breakfast. The place closed. D*** you 2020!!!! So we made our own at the house. We vegged for a couple hours before we went to my mothers. It was a small gathering this year. 4 of us. We didn’t hold back on the spread though. Somethings are hard to dial back. Especially when you are accustomed to large family gatherings. Besides, Friday my youngest brother, his wife and 2 kids would be in. Leftovers will be consumed? It was a nice quiet Thanksgiving. We visited. Watched the Cowboys once again lose a game. Good times.
That evening it was Thanksgiving pt. 2. Half my family didn’t get a proper Thanksgiving spread. I honestly don’t care for leftover Thanksgiving. Too much carbs and I’m sick of it after the first meal. I made myself a carb free tortilla pizza to tide me over.
Friday. I was a couch potato. Good thing, I had to wait for a delivery. I hate it, waiting. They give you a window of 4 hours and it never fails that the delivery arrives at the end of that window. Motherf***ers!!! At least I had a book to read and was able to pass the time. I don’t sit still well. Dune.
It was great seeing everyone. The kids are getting so big. Teddy wanted to look for ghost. I hid in a closet behind cloths and made spooky noises. He also cracks up at fart sounds. Typical boy. Patrick is really moving around. This is only my second time to be around the little guy. D*** pandemic… It’s hard to believe that I have not left this town in almost a year. That’s depressing. I kind of believe 2021 won’t see me traveling much either. I was one vacation in Florida in April that was planned and booked before the country was put on lockdown. I’m both excited and afraid of that experience.
Song of the Week:
Jalapeño
Broccoli, onion, jalapeño chicken & cheese. Comfort food at its best.
Fajita steak. I cut the skirt steak against the grain which is a pain in the a** but the payoff is well worth it. Made a marinade with beer and spices, sitting in the fridge for 48 hours. Red & green bell peppers, red onion & jalapeños. Pico and a ranchero sauce. This was by far the best steak fajita that I’ve ever made. I have a tendency to buy the preseasoned from HEB. Not any more.
I cooked the pre-Thanksgiving dinner. It was chicken, onion, jalapeño, yellow squash & red enchilada sauce. I’ve made this ice before as an experiment. This time we added white rice and some street corn off the side. The dish blended very well. The family was impressed. Hey, it’s easy.
For 9 years Bekah and I have had a tradition where we have breakfast at BoBo Kitchen Thanksgiving morning. Since they have closed I guess we will be starting something new. Chorizo jalapeño onion cheese omelette. Still have ranchero sauce to use. Refried beans. Yummy. Not the same as a BoBo dinning experience, but what is?
Well we made it. It’s time for finals. It’s hard to believe the semester is at a close. Even though it’s early it still can’t already be the end of November. Domino days falling one by one. It feels like just yesterday we were posing for the first day of school photos. Where did the time go? Maybe the collective anxiety on campus ate it all up. I mean, this fall passed in a blink of an eye. It was also relatively pain free. Our numbers remained much lower than I expected, until recently. From the get-go I was expecting things to not run so smoothly. I’m glad to have been proven wrong.
Once this week passes the students go home for over 2 months. That’s a winter break I’m jealous that I never had while in college. What will the campus be like in that time. On a normal semester when the students leave its SO slow. We twiddle our thumbs. I’m trying to imagine 2 months of that and the boredom of it all is maddening. I’m considering taking every Monday & Friday off for the month of December. Not joking.
I guess I should mention that the stores are running out of toilet paper again. Paper towels. Napkins… Yeah, that’s happening. What, people didn’t learn the first go round? Of course not. I’ve said it before when this all began and I’ll say it again now. A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.
It’s part of popular culture now.
Not much excitement at work. I feel like I was basically working for Admissions. I helped transport over a thousand pounds of junk mail for them throughout the week. Good times. After lots of cuss words the facilities guys finally put together the Christmas tree. We don’t get out traditional tree lighting, it’s going virtual, but I think I’ll still go see it in person. From a distance. With a mask. Maybe… I finished off the work week with glitter all over my a** & chair. Great send off.
Ugly new 20ft tree.
On a very random side note: people that can’t whistle. I feel sorry for people that can’t whistle. It’s a small joy, to whistle a tune that you love. To just whistle a tune constructed from your own mind. It’s soothing. And these poor people are missing that. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. Whistle that and tell me it doesn’t elevate your mood? (Do you even know that tune?). Whistling is essential to my song writing process. Lots of melodies arrive from a random whistle. Not to mention, these poor unfortunate souls don’t get the pleasure of completely and utterly annoying their spouses with show tune jingles and other god awful ear worms. It’s a truly satisfying thing to do to the one you love. These poor folk that can’t whistle…
Horror Film
Since I had the night to myself I figured I’d watch a horror movie that I’ve never seen and would probably be too disturbing for Bekah. Lord of Illusions. Clive Barker. The man that made Hellraiser. This was a movie I caught a glimpse of at the age of 14 and quickly turned away from. The imagery was… disturbing. Graphic. All things f***ed. I’d forgotten all about it until today, Friday. Why not give it a try. Eat some pizza. Yeah…. not a movie to eat with. I remembered why I had turned it off as a wee teen. It’s good. A nice film noir horror!!! Disgusting. All around an unpleasant evening.
Horror Film
Jalapeño
Another breakfast bowl. I cooked some pork sausage links, some seasoned potatoes. For the eggs I threw in some fresh pico del gallo.
Pot roast. Comfort bowl.
Armidillo eggs with grilled okra. Cleaning out the freezer meal # 1.
BBQ pork chop with some baked beans. Cleaning out the freezer meal #2. Pretty blah looking meal. It was perfectly cooked and tasty.
Croissant egg cheese bacon sandwich. This came from campus. This thing was amazing!!! It had no right tasting as good as it did. I skipped lunch on this day. Didn’t need it. And for under $4 it’s a real steal.
Hoisin tuna steak, asparagus & rice noodles. Cleaning out the freezer meal #3. I’ve done hoisin chicken. Hoisin steak. Hoisin pork tenderloin. Why am I just now doing hoisin tuna? It was so good and so simple. The rice noodles I tossed with rice vinegar, soy sauce & cilantro. Winged it and won. Bekah was impressed. Said it was like watching an episode of Chopped.
Chicken yakatori. Sort of.
Bekah was gone so I made a pizza from scratch. Pepperoni, jalapeño, red onion, mushrooms, & black olives. Bueno!!!!
Well… our numbers are up. Higher than ever before. What happened? What is everyone doing? Is it all the no mask wearing mouth breathing motherf***er’s? Undoubtedly! We clearly have a problem here. Wasn’t the virus going to disappear after our election? 🙄
The campus sort of feels like it did back in March. So many rumors, gossip, uncertainty. Are we closing. Are we working from home. Are we to shift to skeleton crew. With 1,012 new cases since Monday everyone is freaking out, as they should be. 116 active COVID cases on campus. Many people on quarantine, including my friend Yvette. She is well, but had a bit of an ordeal. Let’s just say they didn’t break it to her well. That’s really an understatement. Boy oh boy was she ever pissed. Rightfully so. To be told you were in contact with a positive but ever told who this person was to know just how in contact you were. Preposterous. She is now getting a little pandemic leave out of it. Some time at the house. She deserves it after the stress she went through.
Crazy a** week. I took a mental health day Monday not realizing how badly I would need it to get through the rest of the week. I walked the trails. I fed the ducks corn. I ran errands. I visited with my mother. I relaxed. I’m glad I did all this. I can’t imagine having worked a full week once Friday finally arrived. I was f***king done. DONE!!! The lack of decision making by the people that make decisions was giving me a headache. By 4 o’clock I was ready for an adult beverage. I suppose I should be thankful for the gloomy morning.
A chance for rain. Minimal, but there. Give me something good. I need it.
Jalapeño.
Saturday nachos. Italian nachos. Made with wonton, Alfredo, and mozzarella. Topped with real goodies. Naysayer’s be d***ed!!! It might not be 100% Carino’s, but it was my take on Italian nachos and it was delicious.
Chicken fajita bowl. You will likely see more bowls now that we have these “dinner” bowls. I like them.
Breakfast burrito bowl. This consist of scrambled eggs, chorizo & mushrooms, avocado, jalapeño, tomatoes and cheese. Bekah is doing the Keto diet and I’m doing my best to help.
Teriyaki burger.
Slow cooker Asian pot roast. I’m not sure why I’ve not done this before. It’s my basic Asian marinade that I make for everything else, but applied to a roast and slow cooked. It was rather amazing.
Tuna!!!
Cilantro lime chicken. Bekah made this one. The flavors were out of this world. I wanted seconds.
Usually on Friday I have an idea WTH we are having for dinner but not this time. Rummage through the fridge and pantry for ideas. I had chicken thighs. I have ramen noodles. Some Panda Express orange sauce. I can make something of this. Another bowl meal.
What a year for a presidential election. What a s*** year. People will disagree with me. But I do not do politics. That’s doesn’t mean I don’t care. But I don’t see the point in living every day of my life wound tight as a spool of yarn worrying about it. The f***er’s that run our country will not change because of me. Besides, they are all one and the same. If you believe otherwise….
So an election year. I have heard SOOOOO much bulls*** my head wants to explode. From both sides. People eat it like it’s a bowl of LuckyCharms. That we believe in a person that claims to know what is best for us that we have never met. Never will meet. That has the authority only because they have the means to reach that position with wealth. How can we relate to these people? They are not us. They never were us.
We have 2 babbling buffoons that are both too old to be making decisions. You have an age which you must reach to run. We should have a cut off age. It makes no sense. NONE!!! So here we are. Two diaper wearing halfwits. Yay, America!!! Great choices.
Let’s think about this. When the options are so bad that on election night the country is boarding up building in case of riots. Do we really have the people we need running for office. Does this not say a f***ing thing to any of you? Bloody hell. These two candidates are not what our country needs. But we have to have one or the other at this point. Because we have completely fallen apart. We have f***ed up. We have lost our reason. I’m sorry, but we have. This American dream is becoming a nightmare.
You want a true president? That’s someone that never aspired for the job. Someone that isn’t arrogant enough to believe they have the right to rule over others. Not someone that is trying to to reach the position, but someone the people want to rise to the position. Someone that doesn’t have the millions/billions to be wasted on a campaign. Money that could be put to so many charities. So many good causes. This is why our system is flawed. That individual is lost. A person that might make the best leader never will because he isn’t the super rich. He isn’t trying to become a leader.
I’m tired of the divide in this country. It hurts. Hatred isn’t a way to live. We need to erase hate. Divide. What does division do for anyone? We have no reason to act this way towards each other. We are all the same. We are born of the same heart. A heart that was born with kindness for each other. Love one another. It’s not hard, my friends. Just be nice. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. People remember it. When they feel it, they feel something. It might be happiness. It might inspire them to share a little of their own.
With my head in the sand I will try and drift into a peaceful lull and hope the country doesn’t burn over night. Whatever the outcome. For I am not watching thing s***!!!
BTW, it’s silly to have diarrhea over an election.
To conclude: While it has been a year, I have been happy for a lot. Although I’ve had some bummer days, I’m not dwelling on the darkness. I see too much light. I’ve made new friends. Stumped my toe and not broken it. Read some good books. Had some happy endings (Not that kind, you perves). Lost weight. Eaten great pizza. Saved money. Dreamed of vacations with my wife. Organized my sock drawer. Accepted the fact that I am weird. While we all miss the world that was 8 months ago, let’s please try and make the most of the one we now live. Let’s hope we all look towards the positive. Towards the light and away from the dark. We are in this together. Focus on what is good, not what is bad. We got this. No matter what the election results might mean for you. We got this, friends.
New favorite snackNew campus art. Skittle roulette. It was truly disgusting. Dog!!!Student art!
Jalapeño
Stacked green chicken enchilada.
Bunless burger. I put Carolina reaper pepper in mine.
Chicken Alfredo w/ sundried tomatoes over broccoli.
Teriyaki steak w/ grilled asparagus & grilled pineapple. Yes, it was rare. Delicious.
Chicken Caesar salad.
Friday I eat alone so I thought I’d try something Bekah can’t eat currently. I keep hearing about this little joint in town so now is the opportunity. The street tacos were amazing. I can’t wait to try some others. These were Asada.
It’s the perfect Halloween. Beautiful weather. Saturday. A full moon!!!! Could the trick or treaters get any luckier? Oh. Yeah…. F***ing COVID!!!! Just another holiday kicked in the teeth. I had been worried about this one for months now, being that it’s my favorite. I was worried it would be totally canceled. Probably, maybe it should have. I don’t know, but it wasn’t. Because it wasn’t, we decided to say screw it. Safely hand out candy. We had hand sanitizer. Only hands in the candy would be our own. We had mask. Which… in the moment we often forgot to put on. It was the fun. Boy did we have fun. Lots of laughter on our front porch. All they needed to look at me….
The idea to dress as a woman began as a joke. You see, I always do creepy. That’s what I’m good at. My brain is rotten from all the horror movies/books that’s I’ve digested over the years. It’s what I know. I know macabre. What a thing to admit. So anyhow, cute somehow turned to me being a lady. To the point that it was discussed so much I really couldn’t not do it. Also, Bekah had been trying to put full makeup on me for what feels like most my life. She was very enthusiastic about me being a woman for the night.
So the week before Halloween I solidified this idea by finding a wig and dress. I know a seamstress to help me find my size. That was a conversation I never thought I’d have. Even with everything procured, I wanted to back out. I began talking myself out of it. “I might disturb children.” “Will this be frowned on in the future?” “ What will work think!!” “Will some conservative father beat me up for being a pervert?” Legit concerns? Probably not. I was just being a coward. Had it not been for my friend Yvette, I might have succumbed to the fear. She said sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone. That stuck with me. So I stepped miles outside of my comfort zone.
Bekah applied my makeup. She went all out. I have utter respect for all you ladies putting this stuff on. I know you are used to it. I was not. When I finally saw myself I decided this was by far the creepiest Halloween costume yet. Nothing about this was cute. I disturbed myself ever glance I took in the mirror. Well, she finished just in time. The doorbell rang. I cowered I the kitchen. That’s when I heard: “Where is Jordan?” Oh boy. Someone is here for the freak show. So I creeped around. It’s Yvette’s group. I wasn’t yet in my dress so her daughter told me to go put it on. Haha. I obliged. The looks on their faces. Priceless. She said: “You look pretty. You need heels. That’s a thin dress.” I was cracking up. Of course she needed a picture. Who wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be the last. That boosted my confidence for the night. Thanks, kids.
So the night progresses. A few friends brought kids by. We had a decent number of door to door treaters. It was a slower night than the year before. That was to be expected. The pandemic. I don’t know if we did the right thing. We tried to be safe. This was the first time since March that we participated in anything. We had fun. It was like the old days when people could go out and have fun without a worry. We both needed it. Just once a year. My favorite time of year. Happy Halloween.
We saw our earliest measurable snowfall this year. 2020. Full of surprises. The campus wanted it to happen. We had our fingers all crossed. But a snow day in October. Too good to be true. Wasn’t it? Then we got the news of a weather delay! 10 o’clock is when I have to go to work. Things were looking good for us. We all kept our fingers crossed. Guess what!! It paid off. Sleet and frozen drizzle most the night and I wake up to the news the campus was closed for the day!!! Woot woot!!!
I got up to check out the scenery. It was about as much a winter wonderland as we ever get in my neck of the woods. After admiring the beauty of it I decided my dogs had the right idea. They were back in bed. I joined them & managed to fall back into sleep until around 9:30.
Out of bed and showered what was I to do with myself. After inspecting the roads I determined they were safe enough to drive on. I thought about lunch and made a quick list for the store. I also really wanted some hot tea. So I left for groceries and warm tea. While waiting for tea I received a text from my neighbor inquiring whether or not I still had power. There went my carefully made lunch plans. No power, no cook. Did I mention it was 32 outside. At least the beer I bough could sit on the back porch. Darn power outage. Kaput were my plans of watching reruns of Seinfeld.
I decided to get out of the house. Frozen lilies sounded fun. The park was completely ice. Kind of a fun sight. On my way back to the house my car informed me that I had a low tire. I didn’t want to wait at Discount and I didn’t want to pay for air. No one should have to pay for air. The jerk that started selling it. It’s a sad thing when you have to ask around to find where there is free air, but I did just that. Other option was to drive from point to point looking. What a waste of time. Anyhow, I found free air.
Cold roses Frozen Lilly
Because of the power outage I had to scrape my lunch plans. I went with some yummy spicy chicken from my favorite Thai joint. Happy I was. After lunch I ran errand that I needed to do. I was productive.
Once back at the house it was time to get the knife out and start a carving. I didn’t want to do my usual scary pumpkin. I went with a silly happy pumpkin. Once a year tradition taken care of a little early so we could enjoy it. Good times.
Will Wednesday follow suit? No. We all wished for at least a delay but our luck had ran out. The day on campus I noted most everyone seemed to be in a better mood. It’s as if we all needed that snow day to preserve our mental health.
The rest of the week was just like any other week. Nothing to write about!
Horror Movie
The Thing. Once again, John Carpenter. I basically grew up with the guy. The warped my mind. Any who… this film I’ve seen at least 100 time. Probably more. I don’t know. It’s a horror film that I’ve seen so many times I don’t even consider it a horror film. It’s one of my top 5 films of all time. It’s engrained in my brain. I knew this film when I was in second grade. I remember teacher at that time saying it was the scariest movie she had ever seen. She was horrified that I knew the movie at my age. She want expecting any of her student to know what she was talking about. Thanks, dad. The film is set in Antarctica. A USA research station with a mixed bag of scientist, technicians & etc. They happen upon an organism that can mimic them. Consume and mimic. “Trust is a tough thing to come by these days.” Starring Kurt Russell, on of my favorite actors and possible hero, the movie is in good hands. The practical special effects are some of the most horrifying that I’ve seen. The score, done by legendary Ennio Morricone, is a moody classic that just gets under your skin. Everything about this film is perfect. The ambiguity. Just a classic movie with all pieces having fallen right into position. If you have not seen this classic, do yourself a favor.
I suppose this concludes my horror movie section until next October. Hope some of you enjoyed.
Jalapeño
Bekah made some chorizo potato and I made some hot sauce. They married well on the plate.
It got REALLY cold. Slow cooker chicken & dumplings.
Leftover chick & dump. I added some to make it a little different. I think I liked it better.
Salisbury steak… but broken down. That’s what I did.
Skillet King Ranch Chicken. This is just simple. I don’t like to bake. Taste just the same.
Bekah being gone I went HOT. This was sort of my lunch plans from the snow day pushed back. Sweet & sour chicken with jalapeño, pineapple and Carolina Reaper peppers. It was… stupid hot. I had to take breaks. Do you know what though? I throughly enjoyed it.
The weekend was our anniversary. 6 years. We had been in the talks to do something for months but with all that was going on in the world what could we really do. When we travel we like to go places. We are foodies and we like to sit at the bar while we eat to engage in small talk with strangers. Sometimes that small talk gets pretty interesting. We make friends. That’s just not happening. I know things are open, but we are still living like it’s March.
So what did we do? We just did absolutely nothing. I decorated the house with candles and roses and kisses while Bekah was out Saturday and we just had a lazy romantic weekend at the house. We watched chick Flix’s and horror. We cooked. We had drinks. We had conversation. It was a rather nice weekend. It will be nice to go somewhere again, but if it’s just us and our house again, I’m okay with that to.
I don’t have anything to say about the week. I was trapped in the office most the time. Each day felt the same. LONG.
Horror Film
Prince of Darkness. Another Carpenter film. This is the one that started it all. Introduced me to true fear. Warped my sweet little brain. Gave me a phobia of black beetles (I guess that’s a form of Entomophobia?). Gave me my favorite genre of movies. I had to have been 6 or 7 at the time. My parents went out to eat with my aunt & uncle so the older cousins were in charge of baby sitting my brother and I. (At that time their was just 2 of use, youngest hadn’t come along just yet). Once my brother was asleep my cousins thought it a good idea to put on a horror film and let me watch it with them. I thought this was so cool. This was forbidden. Something mom & dad wouldn’t allow. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Brief spoiler free synopsis. The church has been hiding the origin of evil. A team of scientists from a university are brought in to study an old relic that’s been kept underneath and old abandoned church. A priest who knows more than he is telling accompanies them. Weird scary s*** ensues. No spoiler to say that the origin of evil is contained in that relic. This was my first movie experience with the devil. It scared the s*** out of me. One scene, in which a man literally falls apart and becomes a mass of crawling black beetles has scared me for life. I’m not afraid of much. Can handle roaches. Put a harmless black beetle on me and I might scream like a child. The film is also very smart. As a kid, I didn’t understand all the physics mumbo jumbo. I understand a lot of it as an adult and appreciate the film even more for it. I highly recommend this one for your Halloween viewing.
For our anniversary weekend we start of Saturday night with carry out from The Wharf. We had bottle caps and cream of jalapeño soup to start off with. Main course we split beer batter shrimp and Hawaiian chicken. Win.
Bekah made some Huevos Rancheros from scratch. This was a first for her and it was excellent. A great anniversary brunch. I was totally impressed.
Spinach manicotti for our anniversary dinner. One of Bekah’s al time favs.
Bunless mushroom Swiss burger. This was the best I’ve done. All I can figure I did differently was add red onion into the meat. The mushrooms I usually blanket with Swiss but I used as a garnish. I might have cooked the mushrooms differently. Who the f*** knows. Bekah said “remember this one”. I will try.
Made one of my 3 orange chicken recipes. This one is the simplest because I don’t have to make the sauce. I just use whichever store bought I feel like. On this night it was Panda Express. It was a good batch.
Okinawa taco rice. Bekah cooked.
Italian seasoned pork tenderloin w/ spicy Brussels sprouts & a raspberry chipotle sauce.
Originally it was going to be Bibigo steak but it got COLD. I couldn’t pass up some soup. I got home and went through the pantry looking for what ingredients I could throw together. I had green enchilada sauce so why not make up some sort of green enchilada chicken soup. Onions, peppers, corn, pinto beans. It can’t be bad. It wasn’t bad. It was great.
Cocktail of the Week: Hot Chocolate w/ Stout Jameson. Great cold weather drink. BTW, I clearly don’t endorse the message on the mug.
It’s October. That scary time of year. You want to know what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid of how many f***ing time I’m going to be subjected to watching Hocus “f***ing” Pocus. The movie is utter garbage and has somehow found its way on many people’s Halloween “watch list”. It has developed a cult following. My wife, sweet Bekah, is one of said followers. How can she, who generally has good taste in film, be enamored by this crime against cinema? She isn’t alone. It’s somehow managed to snag the #2 spot in theatres last weekend. This is 2020. The film came out 1993. WTF is going on!!
Hocus Pocus is an abomination. When sitting through the film I feel myself grow ill. Like, physically ill. My head hurts. My stomach turns. The thought of watching Hocus Pocus reminds me of that train ride in Durango, Colorado when I had the stomach flu. Miserable experience. I loathe Hocus Pocus. The plot is nauseatingly ordinary. How it was ever played and given a budget, who the f*** knows. The child protagonists are beyond boring. The acting isn’t worth s***. It’s soooooo terrible. I don’t know where they found these schmucks. Were they randomly picked from a mall? Did they even audition? If so, I hope the director was stoned out of Hollywood. (Just looked and he hasn’t done anything really since.) The witches are just about as obnoxious as they get. Sarah Jessica Parkers witch is nothing but walking cleavage (which upon thinking might be the one thing the film did right). I don’t know the name of the actress that plays the other sidekick witch, but all she does is sniff around like a f***ing dog. Is that acting? God she is annoying. I wish someone would have slapped those silly facial expressions right off her. Even Bette Midler, who is an otherwise good actress which I respect, has a poorly written character. Was she told to imitate a ferret? What in the bloody f*** is that about? If turning witches into moronic annoying a** clowns was the goal I suppose the film writers succeeded. Witches’ are supposed to insight fear. These just make you want to bang your head against a wall. The best acting comes from the f***ing cat.
This image offends me.
I should have some sort of nostalgia for this movie since I was only 12 when it was released. I flat out hate it. I feel nothing but contempt for the film. I thought it was awful when I was a child. I think it’s beyond awful as an adult. Its success at the time and its admiration today baffles my brain. Hocus Pocus is not just a terrible Halloween movie, it’s just a bad f***ing movie in general. It ends up doing nothing well. It certainly not a horror film. Nothing about it is scary. That it gets lumped into that genre is a disgrace.
Wait! The movie is actually very terrifying. OH THE HORROR!!! Out of all the horror films that I watch this is the only one where I literally feel like I’m going to die while viewing it. Hell for me would be having to watch Hocus Pocus on repeat for all eternity. That is far more frightening than any cenobite from Hellraiser. And Jason, Freddy or Micheal Myers.
What is with the films focus on teenage virginity? S***!!! The boy character is dry humping a f***ing pillow at one point and calling it his crushes name. That’s a little concerning. What were you thinking, Disney!! And the witches desire children. I’m getting hints of pedophilia here. They are actively seeking underage virgins. Talk about creepy. At one point a bus driver basically says he can find them children but it might take a little while. Like, he has connections to child sex slaves? Is that the implication? Seems like it to me. What was going on in the writing room for this film?
I will be watching Hocus Pocus this year. I will probably be forced to watch it multiple viewings because of this very blog post. I’d rather have a boil on my a** than to have to watch the movie. An abscessed tooth sounds favorable. If it came down to Hocus Pocus or a kick in the balls, I’d choose the latter. Swarms of mosquitos sound more enjoyable. Feed me cottage cheese over Hocus Pocus. Having my “you know what” under the guillotine is less terrifying. Pumpkin spice is better. Heck, I’d take the Llama back in the office over Hocus Pocus.
My middle brother came to town to visit. He is not actually on vacation, he is still working remotely unlike the rest of us. He wanted to argue about the Electoral College and it was kind of fun. I don’t argue, I listen. I don’t think he does. The only person it pissed off was Bekah. I laughed. Good seeing him as always. I think July 4th was his last visit. At that point I was more concerned about travel, numbers were way high. I guess a little more lax at this point. I don’t know if that’s a good thing?
Hazel turned 5!!! It seems like only yesterday she was a puppy. I wish she would slow down. 5 is a big year. My boy Riley only made it to 10. I better have more years with Hazel. I love this girl. She is Bekah’s and my first child. For her birthday she was pampered. She had “real” food. Grilled chicken, raw egg and a side of peanut butter biscuit. She said thanks.
Oh yeah. I almost drank a live cockroach. That’s how my evening ended. Sitting outside enjoying the nice night. Take a sip of wine and find something moving in my mouth. Spit out into glass only to discover a living roach. It was traumatic.
Friday finally arrived. This week felt like it was so long. It just didn’t want to end. The days itself didn’t either. It’s dragged out. One bit of excitement occurred though: I was able to explore the tunnels below the campus. Underneath the campus are tunnels that stretch out connecting the buildings with cold and hot water, cold and hot air. I was given a flashlight and told to have fun. I’m not the claustrophobic type, but being alone in those tunnels somewhat got to me. I don’t know why. It was actually pretty fun though. And I did get to put the flashlight to use.
Jalapeño
Biscuits & chorizo gravy with poached eggs. A fine balance of flavors.
Sesame chicken.
Chicken, broccoli, cream of chicken, curry & cheese. It was tasty.
Since my brother was in town we had dinner together Tuesday and he wanted some Chinese from a place he grew up eating. I got the sesame chicken that I’m always mimicking. Egg roll was tasty and the plume sauce was heavenly.
Chimichurri chicken avocado salad. So I love chimichurri. One of my favorite meals to make. I’ve just always had a problem finding the right side dish to go along with it. This meal is what I’ve been missing. We both came to agreement that this was this best way to eat it. So good. Everything went well together. Big win. Love trying new recipes.
Chicken stroganoff w/ bow tie pasta.
Pizza. It was a great dinner with family but the pizza was undercooked. Because they gave mine to someone else and rushed getting a new one to me.
