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Orlando Things
Back in Orlando.
I've partially unpacked, it'll get done eventually. A lot of stuff can stay in the suitcases until I know whether or not I'm going back out.
The data entry job has not given me any more work, but it's ok. They will or they won't.
I spent a few days cleaning and getting caught up with my plants.
There are now FIVE banana trees back there. Where is my FRUIT tho!
All of my little lemons are surviving and growing. The tree has a scalebug infection so I sprayed it with neem oil.
All I can say about everything else is "they're still alive". I'll have to breathe some life into some things in coming days.
----------------------------------------
In food news, I finally got to crack open my pine cone "varenye", which is a specific type of fruit preserve found in Russia and Georgia.
Yes, it is real baby pine cones.
They have been boiled for a long time to soften them, and then boiled again in a sugar reduction to make a preserve.
I was worried they'd taste like ammonia or Pine-Sol, but they were surprisingly floral.
Kind of like with berries, the taste of each cone varied. Some cones were mild while others were more intense or even a little bitter.
And the texture of the pine cones was chewy and very pleasant. Similar to eating dates.
And the syrup is just divine. Floral with a hint of pine, like fall in a jar.
I think these would be great with cheese and crackers, or as part of a fall charcuterie.
How amazing they'd be as a topping on a spice or gingerbread or maple or pumpkin cake!
Pine cone perserves are traditionally eaten alone or used to enhance tea.
I'm going to mix it with my oatmeal, along with cinnamon and nutmeg and cardamom.
And hopefully eat it with cheese too. And try it in my tea :)
On Wednesday I made King Arthur Flour's "back-of-the-bag" oatmeal bread.
It turned out pretty well, though I used the Tangzhong method and I probably shouldn't have.
The loaf rose nicely but the crumb is awfully loose. I was hoping to use this to make uncrustables but I don't think it's sturdy enough.
Tangzhong probably wasn't necessary or beneficial in this case.
Still, it's flavorful and will be just fine for my usual sandwiches and stuff.
Also Wednesday I tried my hand at Korean mayak eggs.
They're soft-boiled eggs that you soak in a marinade of soy, honey, onion, chive, garlic, ginger, chili pepper, and toasted garlic seed.
Ideally you marinate them overnight, which I did.
Going in the fridge:
The next day:
They're just slightly overcooked; you can see that the yolk started to solidify.
But reducing the boil time by literally 30 seconds is going to make them perfect.
The flavor is freaking incredible, I can see why they are called "crack eggs"...I'm addicted already!
Traditionally eaten cold over white rice, or you can use the marinade to cook other meats like chicken and fish.
Or you can reuse the marinade multiple times on up to three batches of six eggs
(which is what I will probably do because DAMN these are awesome)
And finally, after weeks of waiting, I got a notification that Yishi Foods has restocked on their sampler pack of Asian-inspired oatmeals!
I am very excited to try all of these flavors!
The company was founded by a young woman who designed these oatmeals based on the porridges her mother made for her when she was a little girl growing up in China. I've been scouring Asian grocery stores for them but have not found any in stock. Now I'll get to try one of each! Very awesome.
Some of these have caffeine, which I don't really like, and all of them are sweetened with Stevia which is a shame because that's one of my least favorite sweeteners (bitter aftertaste), but I'm willing to overlook all that to discover these bangin' flavors. Early guess that Toasted Black Sesame will be a favorite and Red Bean will be least-favorite. Very curious about osmanthus as I've never (knowingly) had it before.
----------------------------------------
Jameson's surgery was on Thursday.
Neither of us slept well, we were both freaking out.
I got up early to eat breakfast and pack a few things to take to the hospital.
Jameson followed shortly after, and we drove over and got all checked in.
After a little wait he was taken back so they could poke him and prod him and hook him up to misc machines.
When he was ready to go they called me back, and I squeezed him (not too hard) just as he was starting to fade out.
Back in the waiting room I twiddled with my phone and listened to a cringey conversation happening with a woman across the room whose grandpa had apparently swallowed his partial dentures, and somehow no one had noticed until TWO WEEKS LATER. First of all it's amazing that he didn't die, and second how TF did no one in the nursing home notice that this guy was suddenly missing half his teeth? And third, the dentures lodged in his throat caused an infection, a case of pneumonia, a 30-pound weight loss, and other complications. All because dude swallowed his dentures and couldn't ask for help. Damn. I hope he recovers, is all I can say.
Anyway, Jameson's surgery took either 30 or 45 minutes; they called me at the 45 minute mark to say everything had gone smoothly and it would be another two hours until he woke up. So I went to the cafeteria and had a mushy, overly salted meal that reminded me of the Pie Car at the circus. Ah, the memories :/
They called me back a little after 2pm, and Jameson was awake but obviously in discomfort and pain.
They wouldn't let us leave until he showed that he could pee, and that didn't happen for another four hours.
I mean, the surgery was on his abdomen, and you DO have to bear down at least a little to pee, so it's not surprising.
In the meantime we walked up and down the hall to help get things flowing.
I was a poor distraction from the pain; I'm not a caretaker and never know what to do or say.
I just walked silently beside him. Every time he wanted to move or get up or ask for something, I kind of fumbled around like an idiot or felt that I was underfoot. But when I asked if he wanted me to leave for a bit, he said no. At least I can offer my presence I guess. Even if I'm not the best, I'm still here.
Finally he was able to squeeze some pee out, and we were allowed to go home.
We listened carefully to the post-op instructions, and I picked up his prescription at the pharmacy downstairs.
When I came back the nurse started to instruct me on what to do "when your father is ready", then caught herself and asked, "Wait...I'm sorry, what is your relationship? Are you his daughter or...?"
That got a big laugh out of me and loud indignation from Jameson!
The nurse was of course flustered and tried to cover by saying to me, "You just look so young!", but I think what really happened is she internalized Jameson's grey hair!
Either way, I was duly flattered and will pocket that cute moment from an otherwise stressful and painful day.
We drove home so, so carefully, then I quickly made Jameson some toast and jello so he could have an oxy.
He watched Dumb and Dumber while I typed this up and took a trip to Publix for some ginger ale.
As of now he is resting and watching movies. I'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom because he says he'll feel bad if he disturbs me,
but you damn bet I'll be leaving my door open and my phone notifications on.
----------------------------------------
The next day Jameson was actually doing pretty well. He ate three scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast, and did a little work.
I had my own breakfast and finally unpacked, though I left a lot of things in the suitcases and only shoved them into a corner since I might need them again in a few months.
I ate lunch a bit early because at noon I had to drive across town for fingerprinting and "sponsorship" for my discount court reporting job.
I dressed nicely in case a photo was required (and also because it's good to be presentable for such a job).
Turns out the office was the SSA office for Orlando.
So I THINK what's going on is that I'm being contracted by a company that is in turn contracted by the SSA to provide hearing reporting services. I knew it was a federal job but hadn't quite connected all the dots.
It was good that I dressed up because EVERYONE was courtroom-appropriate, so I blended right in, and only when I started pawing through the directory in confusion did someone realize I was a noob and needed direction. A nice older man came and got me, gathered some information and scanned my IDs, and took some fingerprints. He said I'd get a temp code to allow me access to the deposition rooms, which are heavily guarded in addition to being behind coded doors. It took a long time because of some technical complications, but overall went smoothly.
After that I drove back home, stopping to pick up more eggs.
It was a chill day after that. We watched TV together. The new Iron Chef, a few episodes of The Circle.
I made eggs and rice for him for dinner, ice cream for dessert.
I had leftovers and a lovely "crack egg", and chocolate hummus with strawberries for dessert.
After a while Jameson got himself to the bedroom and watched TV.
I went to the guest bedroom and worked on my foodie list for next tour, and watched Stranger Things.
----------------------------------------
Saturday was slow. Breakfast for both of us, then Jameson rested because he was a little in pain and I swept and weeded the pool patio.
I'm very disappointed with how the polymeric sand turned out. It seems like it only half-set, so that the pool deck is now gritty every time we go out there. Either I didn't do it right or didn't do it well or should have done a sealant afterward. However you slice it, it means now I have to sweep the pool deck at least once a week to clear sand coming out of the cracks between the pavers. Sigh.
The one good thing is that the weeds are somewhat reduced. I only had to pull a few.
It was near 100 degrees today so I was very sweaty and gross by the time I got inside, even though it probably took under an hour.
I rinsed off and had lunch and watched Stranger Things. When Jameson woke up I made him a sandwich.
Nothing else was accomplished all day. I made a dental appointment.
Oh, my Asian oatmeals showed up! I will try the first one tomorrow morning.
----------------------------------------
Sunday! I fixed Jameson some eggs and toast, then tried my Ube Bubble Tea oatmeal.
No pics yet because I want to see what the others are like (different textures/colors?).
It was good, but IMO overly sweet. The primary sweetener is Stevia, which isn't "bad", just not my favorite.
I know bubble tea is technically a dessert, but still.
The flavor was good though, and the texture was nice because it was oats and almond butter powder and flax.
There was also blueberry powder in there which tempered the rich ube flavor nicely.
I'm excited to try the others, but am hopeful that they're not as sweet as this.
It was a very slow day indeed. Jameson wanted to go for a walk, but it is just so damn hot out right now and after thinking about it we decided to pass because we don't want him sweating under/around/on his surgical tape (he doesn't have stitches but rather a dissolvable tape holding his incisions closed). It sucks because there's not really an indoor option close to us; our gym doesn't have a track, and the nearest mall is over 30 minutes away. Sigh.
Well, we will get through it. He will, I mean.
I scrubbed our shower (my absolute least favorite chore) and will do it again in a week because soap scum is persistent and some has built up while I was gone. I wrote a letter to my step-grandma, and an email to my sister and a friend who I haven't spoken with in a while.
Jameson worked on an Optimus Prime LEGO build.
For dinner I made a favorite lazy-easy recipe: cheeseburger fusilli from The Dude Diet (recipe is HERE).
It uses whole wheat pasta, 3 cups of spinach, and 90% lean ground beef (or any ground meat of your choice), so it's healthier than you'd think.
After dinner there was a thunderstorm which was nice.
We watched the finale of The Circle and a few episodes of the new Iron Chef, which is really growing on us.
Somewhere in there I got an email from our music coordinator on tour with an updated tour route and a promise to send an updated contract draft in the next few weeks. Yay! Another step toward "This is really happening"! She also revealed that the band call will not be until mid-September (it was originally around the 5th) so that gives me a little more buffer for giving notice to my court reporting job.
Speaking of that, my first day is supposed to be Tuesday.
I am nervous as heck, but there's not much to do but wait and see how it goes and walk in there like a newborn having not a clue about anything!
I've partially unpacked, it'll get done eventually. A lot of stuff can stay in the suitcases until I know whether or not I'm going back out.
The data entry job has not given me any more work, but it's ok. They will or they won't.
I spent a few days cleaning and getting caught up with my plants.
There are now FIVE banana trees back there. Where is my FRUIT tho!
All of my little lemons are surviving and growing. The tree has a scalebug infection so I sprayed it with neem oil.
All I can say about everything else is "they're still alive". I'll have to breathe some life into some things in coming days.
----------------------------------------
In food news, I finally got to crack open my pine cone "varenye", which is a specific type of fruit preserve found in Russia and Georgia.
Yes, it is real baby pine cones.
They have been boiled for a long time to soften them, and then boiled again in a sugar reduction to make a preserve.
I was worried they'd taste like ammonia or Pine-Sol, but they were surprisingly floral.
Kind of like with berries, the taste of each cone varied. Some cones were mild while others were more intense or even a little bitter.
And the texture of the pine cones was chewy and very pleasant. Similar to eating dates.
And the syrup is just divine. Floral with a hint of pine, like fall in a jar.
I think these would be great with cheese and crackers, or as part of a fall charcuterie.
How amazing they'd be as a topping on a spice or gingerbread or maple or pumpkin cake!
Pine cone perserves are traditionally eaten alone or used to enhance tea.
I'm going to mix it with my oatmeal, along with cinnamon and nutmeg and cardamom.
And hopefully eat it with cheese too. And try it in my tea :)
On Wednesday I made King Arthur Flour's "back-of-the-bag" oatmeal bread.
It turned out pretty well, though I used the Tangzhong method and I probably shouldn't have.
The loaf rose nicely but the crumb is awfully loose. I was hoping to use this to make uncrustables but I don't think it's sturdy enough.
Tangzhong probably wasn't necessary or beneficial in this case.
Still, it's flavorful and will be just fine for my usual sandwiches and stuff.
Also Wednesday I tried my hand at Korean mayak eggs.
They're soft-boiled eggs that you soak in a marinade of soy, honey, onion, chive, garlic, ginger, chili pepper, and toasted garlic seed.
Ideally you marinate them overnight, which I did.
Going in the fridge:
The next day:
They're just slightly overcooked; you can see that the yolk started to solidify.
But reducing the boil time by literally 30 seconds is going to make them perfect.
The flavor is freaking incredible, I can see why they are called "crack eggs"...I'm addicted already!
Traditionally eaten cold over white rice, or you can use the marinade to cook other meats like chicken and fish.
Or you can reuse the marinade multiple times on up to three batches of six eggs
(which is what I will probably do because DAMN these are awesome)
And finally, after weeks of waiting, I got a notification that Yishi Foods has restocked on their sampler pack of Asian-inspired oatmeals!
I am very excited to try all of these flavors!
The company was founded by a young woman who designed these oatmeals based on the porridges her mother made for her when she was a little girl growing up in China. I've been scouring Asian grocery stores for them but have not found any in stock. Now I'll get to try one of each! Very awesome.
Some of these have caffeine, which I don't really like, and all of them are sweetened with Stevia which is a shame because that's one of my least favorite sweeteners (bitter aftertaste), but I'm willing to overlook all that to discover these bangin' flavors. Early guess that Toasted Black Sesame will be a favorite and Red Bean will be least-favorite. Very curious about osmanthus as I've never (knowingly) had it before.
----------------------------------------
Jameson's surgery was on Thursday.
Neither of us slept well, we were both freaking out.
I got up early to eat breakfast and pack a few things to take to the hospital.
Jameson followed shortly after, and we drove over and got all checked in.
After a little wait he was taken back so they could poke him and prod him and hook him up to misc machines.
When he was ready to go they called me back, and I squeezed him (not too hard) just as he was starting to fade out.
Back in the waiting room I twiddled with my phone and listened to a cringey conversation happening with a woman across the room whose grandpa had apparently swallowed his partial dentures, and somehow no one had noticed until TWO WEEKS LATER. First of all it's amazing that he didn't die, and second how TF did no one in the nursing home notice that this guy was suddenly missing half his teeth? And third, the dentures lodged in his throat caused an infection, a case of pneumonia, a 30-pound weight loss, and other complications. All because dude swallowed his dentures and couldn't ask for help. Damn. I hope he recovers, is all I can say.
Anyway, Jameson's surgery took either 30 or 45 minutes; they called me at the 45 minute mark to say everything had gone smoothly and it would be another two hours until he woke up. So I went to the cafeteria and had a mushy, overly salted meal that reminded me of the Pie Car at the circus. Ah, the memories :/
They called me back a little after 2pm, and Jameson was awake but obviously in discomfort and pain.
They wouldn't let us leave until he showed that he could pee, and that didn't happen for another four hours.
I mean, the surgery was on his abdomen, and you DO have to bear down at least a little to pee, so it's not surprising.
In the meantime we walked up and down the hall to help get things flowing.
I was a poor distraction from the pain; I'm not a caretaker and never know what to do or say.
I just walked silently beside him. Every time he wanted to move or get up or ask for something, I kind of fumbled around like an idiot or felt that I was underfoot. But when I asked if he wanted me to leave for a bit, he said no. At least I can offer my presence I guess. Even if I'm not the best, I'm still here.
Finally he was able to squeeze some pee out, and we were allowed to go home.
We listened carefully to the post-op instructions, and I picked up his prescription at the pharmacy downstairs.
When I came back the nurse started to instruct me on what to do "when your father is ready", then caught herself and asked, "Wait...I'm sorry, what is your relationship? Are you his daughter or...?"
That got a big laugh out of me and loud indignation from Jameson!
The nurse was of course flustered and tried to cover by saying to me, "You just look so young!", but I think what really happened is she internalized Jameson's grey hair!
Either way, I was duly flattered and will pocket that cute moment from an otherwise stressful and painful day.
We drove home so, so carefully, then I quickly made Jameson some toast and jello so he could have an oxy.
He watched Dumb and Dumber while I typed this up and took a trip to Publix for some ginger ale.
As of now he is resting and watching movies. I'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom because he says he'll feel bad if he disturbs me,
but you damn bet I'll be leaving my door open and my phone notifications on.
----------------------------------------
The next day Jameson was actually doing pretty well. He ate three scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast, and did a little work.
I had my own breakfast and finally unpacked, though I left a lot of things in the suitcases and only shoved them into a corner since I might need them again in a few months.
I ate lunch a bit early because at noon I had to drive across town for fingerprinting and "sponsorship" for my discount court reporting job.
I dressed nicely in case a photo was required (and also because it's good to be presentable for such a job).
Turns out the office was the SSA office for Orlando.
So I THINK what's going on is that I'm being contracted by a company that is in turn contracted by the SSA to provide hearing reporting services. I knew it was a federal job but hadn't quite connected all the dots.
It was good that I dressed up because EVERYONE was courtroom-appropriate, so I blended right in, and only when I started pawing through the directory in confusion did someone realize I was a noob and needed direction. A nice older man came and got me, gathered some information and scanned my IDs, and took some fingerprints. He said I'd get a temp code to allow me access to the deposition rooms, which are heavily guarded in addition to being behind coded doors. It took a long time because of some technical complications, but overall went smoothly.
After that I drove back home, stopping to pick up more eggs.
It was a chill day after that. We watched TV together. The new Iron Chef, a few episodes of The Circle.
I made eggs and rice for him for dinner, ice cream for dessert.
I had leftovers and a lovely "crack egg", and chocolate hummus with strawberries for dessert.
After a while Jameson got himself to the bedroom and watched TV.
I went to the guest bedroom and worked on my foodie list for next tour, and watched Stranger Things.
----------------------------------------
Saturday was slow. Breakfast for both of us, then Jameson rested because he was a little in pain and I swept and weeded the pool patio.
I'm very disappointed with how the polymeric sand turned out. It seems like it only half-set, so that the pool deck is now gritty every time we go out there. Either I didn't do it right or didn't do it well or should have done a sealant afterward. However you slice it, it means now I have to sweep the pool deck at least once a week to clear sand coming out of the cracks between the pavers. Sigh.
The one good thing is that the weeds are somewhat reduced. I only had to pull a few.
It was near 100 degrees today so I was very sweaty and gross by the time I got inside, even though it probably took under an hour.
I rinsed off and had lunch and watched Stranger Things. When Jameson woke up I made him a sandwich.
Nothing else was accomplished all day. I made a dental appointment.
Oh, my Asian oatmeals showed up! I will try the first one tomorrow morning.
----------------------------------------
Sunday! I fixed Jameson some eggs and toast, then tried my Ube Bubble Tea oatmeal.
No pics yet because I want to see what the others are like (different textures/colors?).
It was good, but IMO overly sweet. The primary sweetener is Stevia, which isn't "bad", just not my favorite.
I know bubble tea is technically a dessert, but still.
The flavor was good though, and the texture was nice because it was oats and almond butter powder and flax.
There was also blueberry powder in there which tempered the rich ube flavor nicely.
I'm excited to try the others, but am hopeful that they're not as sweet as this.
It was a very slow day indeed. Jameson wanted to go for a walk, but it is just so damn hot out right now and after thinking about it we decided to pass because we don't want him sweating under/around/on his surgical tape (he doesn't have stitches but rather a dissolvable tape holding his incisions closed). It sucks because there's not really an indoor option close to us; our gym doesn't have a track, and the nearest mall is over 30 minutes away. Sigh.
Well, we will get through it. He will, I mean.
I scrubbed our shower (my absolute least favorite chore) and will do it again in a week because soap scum is persistent and some has built up while I was gone. I wrote a letter to my step-grandma, and an email to my sister and a friend who I haven't spoken with in a while.
Jameson worked on an Optimus Prime LEGO build.
For dinner I made a favorite lazy-easy recipe: cheeseburger fusilli from The Dude Diet (recipe is HERE).
It uses whole wheat pasta, 3 cups of spinach, and 90% lean ground beef (or any ground meat of your choice), so it's healthier than you'd think.
After dinner there was a thunderstorm which was nice.
We watched the finale of The Circle and a few episodes of the new Iron Chef, which is really growing on us.
Somewhere in there I got an email from our music coordinator on tour with an updated tour route and a promise to send an updated contract draft in the next few weeks. Yay! Another step toward "This is really happening"! She also revealed that the band call will not be until mid-September (it was originally around the 5th) so that gives me a little more buffer for giving notice to my court reporting job.
Speaking of that, my first day is supposed to be Tuesday.
I am nervous as heck, but there's not much to do but wait and see how it goes and walk in there like a newborn having not a clue about anything!