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“What are we having for dinner?”

If that question fills you with dread it’s usually because you don’t know either. Make it easy on yourself and setup a plan.

UGH! A PLAN!

Well, if you’re prefer to avoid the whole plan thing I know a guy….

Still, I won’t always be there for you guys, so here’s what I do.

What do I have in STOCK?

What’s on SALE?

What is in SEASON?

What SOUNDs good?

So I check my fridge, my freezer, and my pantry and see what needs to be used up. Sad looking kale? Ground beef been there almost a week? Once you know what you’ve got it’s time to think about what is on sale that week. Pull up your flyer or check out FLIPP to see what deals are on. Pork ribs on sale? Persimmons coming in by the case? That can help you to figure out what you need to buy.

Then I think about what might be in season. Toronto is getting good produce; strawberries now, peaches soon. Leaf lettuce etc. When Fall comes it’s all about squash and apples.

Okay, so we’ve got a few things we need to use up, we’ve got a few things on sale this week, and we know what’s in season. Now the fun part; what “sounds” good. Sometimes penne might not sound good, but a fresh strawberry salad with grilled chicken would. It really depends, and it’s the fun part of menu planning.

Putting it together. I need to use: Some kale, 1 lb of Ground beef, some frozen shrimp. I need to buy: Some strawberries at the farmers market Tuesday along with some nice leaf lettuce. Pork loin is on sale and Udon noodles too! We’ve got baseball on Tuesday. Friday night the kids have sleepovers. I’ll be up near the good butcher on Friday, maybe I’ll pick up a nice steak?

Plan shapes up like this:

Monday: Smash burgers with kale chips and crunchy chopped up veggies. An easy dinner that uses up the sad kale and the beef.

Tuesday: Shrimp stir fry with udon noodles. Use up the rest of the random fridge veg for the big market shop on Tuesday.

Wednesday: Chana Masala (Chickpea curry) with a smashed cucumber salad

Thursday: Portion out that pork loin and freeze half. Use the other half to make schnitzel or breaded pork cutlets either in the oven, or shallow fried. Pair that with a strawberry salad that uses the greens and fresh strawberries.

Friday: Kids are away! Go out for dinner or eat take out on the couch!

Saturday: Roasted Tri-Tip with chimichurri, broccoli with tahini dressing and baked potatoes.

Sunday: Penne alla vodka with caesar salad and focaccia.

That’s a pretty good week of eating. You’ve got a couple of meatless meals there, you’ve got a few things you could take for lunch the next day. You’ve cooked mostly using what you have on hand and you’ve tried to put the fast meals on the days you need them.

Next time I’ll talk about how I keep a store of recipes and “to cook” ideas to help with the inspiration part.

Screenwriting for Fun and Profit (maybe?)

I’ve written a couple of screenplays over the last two years. I decided to refine and polish one for submission in a few online script contests; Final Draft Big Break and maybe a Script Pipeline one. I’m hoping it becomes a solid spec script I can show around and heck, who knows maybe one day I’ll get to see the exploits of Richie and Sam up on the big screen (or more likely, the small screen on a streaming site).

If you’d care to check out the script head over to the link Here

• Libertines “All Quiet on the Esplanade”
• Charly Bliss “Forever”
• Maggie Rogers “Don’t forget me”
• The Dip “Love Direction”
• Little Quirks “Little Quirks”
• Los Campasinos “All Hell” and “More Hell”
• Charlie XCX “Brat”
• Johnny Blueskies (Sturgill Simpson) “Passage du Desir”
• Mdou Moctar “Illana” and “Funeral for Justice”
• Steph Strings “Cradle Mountain”
• Laughing “Because it’s true”
• Ezra Collective “Dance, No one’s watching”
• Vampire Weekend “Only God Was Above Us”
• Rat Boys “The Window”
• Japandroids “Fate and Alcohol”
• Gracie Abrams “Secret of Us”
• SPRINTS “Letter to self”

Week 1

Sundays are tricky because the subway doesn’t start running until 8 and I need to be at St James Campus by 8:30. So I take the bus and manage to get my way to Sherbourne and Dundas for 8am and walk from there. It’s not a great walk. I haven’t been in that part of town in a while and it’s bleak.

I arrive with 5min to spare and find a table. It’s a full class and it’s made up of a broad cross section of people.

The Chef gets started with course overview, safety, general guidelines and rules. She tells us about the equipment we’ll need. I had most of it purchased last week but intend to pickup a few more things this week. She teaches us how to make some stock (Brown, Chicken, Fish, and Veggie/Dashi). We get a break and a chance to go pickup our uniforms from the book store.

The second half of the class was a demo on some salads. We get a chance to go off and make a basic lentil salad and not overly interesting, but it’s our first chance to really cook. I whip through mine and try and help a few folks struggling at my table.

Finished up a bit early and checked in with the Chef and went home.

Overall I enjoyed the day. B said that I’m probably going to be a bit bored with this class since I cook already. Scanning the syllabus there isn’t anything there that I can’t do already with the notable exception of egg cookery. I don’t eat eggs, so I never bothered to learn how to cook them. I am looking forward to the other courses that GB offers.

It’s time for a course correction and September with its “New Beginnings” vibe is as good a place to begin again as any.

For me this particular restart is going to be focused on getting back to my healthy weight and improving my gym performance after a year where things never quite got back on track. Sneaking in those New Year resolutions by year end still counts right?

My clothes were fitting tight when I went on vacation and I faced the reckoning when I got home. I weighed in at 212lbs which is the heaviest I’ve been in a very long time. So!

Going to fast track as much fat loss as I can over the next 8 weeks. I know that quick results aren’t long term effective, but I need to get this weight off as fast as I can so I can start rebuilding again. Doing Low Carb/Ketogenic diet. I don’t stress too much if my carbs are in that 30-40grams range, but if I can keep them lower most days that will be good. Nothing really between now and late September, and then October gets trickier (Thanksgiving, Anniversary, etc) but I hope to have a good amount of work done by then.

The other crucial part of this journey is getting back to Crossfit and regular training. First day back was today. Soreness incoming.

Once upon a time there was a princess named Suzannah who more than anything in the world wanted a pony.

Her Mom and Dad told her:

“No! Ponies are messy. Ponies are noisy and PONIES ARE SMELLY!”

So one day when her Mom and Dad were not paying attention she went to town and traded some of the crown jewels for a pony.

She asked the farmer:

“Is this Pony Messy?” the farmer said “No”. She asked “Is this pony Noisy” and the farmer said “NO”. She asked “Is this pony smelly?” and the farmer said “WEEEEELLLLLLLLL…..” but before he could answer she said “I love her I love her I will take her.”

She took her pony home and hid her in the far back stable under the tallest tower. She snuck the pony snacks.

The Pony was NOT noisy. The Pony was not Messy. But…the pony was VERY VERY FARTY. So Farty that one day the King and Queen said: “SNIFF SNIFF what is that smell?” and Princess Suzannah said: “NOTHING!” and the next day she went to see the wizard who gave her a very good idea.

So she tied a balloon to the pony’s bum and twice a day would run to remove the ballon filled with farts. The Wizard told her to take the balloon far away and pop it and she did that for two whole days but then got tired of running far away. So she hid them in a giant storage room in the tower.

Once upon a time a Princess named Suzannah had a brother named Thomas who more than anything in the world wanted a pet porcupine.

His Mom and Dad said “No! Porcupines are grumpy! Porcupines are curious! and PORCUPINES ARE POINT!”

So one day when his Mom and Dad were not paying attention he went to town and traded some of the crown jewels for a porcupine.

He asked the farmer

“Is this Porcupine grumpy?” and the farmer said “Yes”. He asked “Is this porcupine curious?” and the farmer said “Yes” and he asked “Is this porcupine pointy?” and the farmer said “WEEEEELLLLLLLLL…..” but before he could answer he said “I love him I love him I will take him.”

He took his porcupine home and hid him in a playroom across from the tower where the pony was hiding.

Thomas loved his porcupine very much and was always very careful to lock the door and give him a very careful kiss good night before leaving him. The first night he heard some sounds that sounded like:

SQUEEEEEAAAAK and SQUEEEEEAKKKKK.

This made the porcupine very grumpy. What is that strange noise!

The second night he heard a noise that sounded like:

SQUEEEEEAAAAK and SQUEEEEEAKKKKK

This made the porcupine very grumpy and very curious. He wanted to find out what was making all that noise.

Then the third night he heard a noise that sounded like:

SQUEEEEEAAAAK and SQUEEEEEAKKKKK

The porcupine was very grumpy, very curious, and very pointy. He decided to go explore and find the source of the funny noise.

He followed the SQUEEEEEAAAAK and SQUEEEEEAKKKKK and crept out from the room and down the hall. The squeaking had stopped and he heard Princess Suzannah tip-toeing down the hall holding two big round red balloons.

He followed her down the hall and watched her put the balloons in a closet full of big round red balloons and close the door quickly.

The porcupine had never seen a balloon before and he wanted to play with these colourful toys. So he opened the door and…..

POP POP POP POP POP POP POP and…….

PEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW

The farts spread all over the kingdom. No one had ever smelled such terrible smells before. People panicked!

Princess Suzannah was quietly reading when she decided to stick her nose outside for some lovely fresh air. The air was NOT fresh. “Oh No! I know what happened!” said Princess Suzannah. She was very smart and came up with an idea.

She ran to her Mom and Dad and said “Mom and Dad can I have a vacuum cleaner?” and her Mom and Dad said “NO NO NO. Vacuums are dirty and ugly and loud.”

Princess Suzannah ran down to the general store and bought a vacuum and started sucking up all the farts.

Prince Thomas was loudly playing and decided he decided to stick his nose outside for some lovely fresh air. The air was NOT fresh. “OH No! I know what happened!” said Prince Thomas. He was very smart and came up with an idea.

He ran to his Mom and Dad and said “Mom and Dad can I have a giant bottle of perfume?” and his Mom and Dad said “NO NO NO. Giant perfume bottles are big and expensive and breakable.”

Prince Thomas ran down to the general store and bought a giant bottle of perfume and started to squirt it out into the air.

Soon the kingdom started to smell better and Suzannah and Thomas were exhausted from vacuuming and spraying all day. They slept till 9 o’clock the next morning. Princess Suzannah decided to keep the vacuum on her pony’s bum and Prince Thomas decided to wrap his porcupine in bubble wrap whenever he became too curious.

The End.

“What is wrong with Cryan and most people, said Byrne, is that they do not spend sufficient time in bed. When a man sleeps, he is steeped and lost in a limp toneless happiness: awake he is restless, tortured by his body and the illusion of existence.

Why have men spent the centuries seeking to overcome the awakened body? Put it to sleep, that is a better way. Let it serve only to turn the sleeping soul over, to change the blood-stream and thus make possible a deeper and more refined sleep.

I agree, I said.

We must invert our conception of repose and activity, he continued. We should not sleep to recover the energy expended when awake but rather wake occasionally to defecate the unwanted energy that sleep engenders. This might be done quickly – a five-mile race at full tilt around the town and then back to bed and the kingdom of the shadows.

You’re a terrible man for the blankets, said Kerrigan.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I love my bed, said Bymne, She was my first friend, my foster-mother, my dearest comforter…
He paused and drank.
Her warmth, he continued, kept me alive when my mother bore me. She still nurtures me, yielding without stint the parturition of her cosy womb. She will nurse me gently in my last hour and faithfully hold my cold body when I am dead. She will look bereaved when I am gone.
This speech did not please us, bringing to each of us our last personal end. We tittered in cynical fashion.”

IT security person: So that’s what you need to do to get this working.

Me: Okay if I get you the answer in the next hour how long until you can resolve the problem?

ITSecPerson: Oooh, well I mean the week is just about over….So maybe next week?

Me: It is TUESDAY AT 11:14AM….

ITSecPerson: Yeeeaaahhh but I mean…

Me: We’re not even half way through yet?

ITSecPerson: …..

Tom: When I’m a grownup I’m going to have 100 corgis

Me: Oh yeah?

Tom: But first I’ll get 1. Then 2. Then 3…then 5

Me: What about 4?

Tom: I’ll get two at a time from then on….

I listened to a lot of music this year according to Spotify Wrapped, my summary was borked by my kid’s listening habits (though I did listen to a lot of Taylor on my own too).

First, a few that I’ve listened to and are ‘fine’.
– Higher by Chris Stapleton
– History Books by The Gaslight Anthem
– Volcano by Jungle

Favourite Albums of 2023

1. Stand in the Joy by William Prince. Oh man, I love this guys voice so much. Seeing him in concert next year at Massey.
2. GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo. I love some good angsty girl pop…
3. Where the Angels Fall by The Cat Empire. I think my favourite concert of this year and this was a big boombastic album that was great to cook to.
4. The Loveliest/Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen. Z and I could agree on CRJ and TS this year, I’m hoping for many more years of sympatico music taste.
5. Friendship – Surprise Chef. While not quite “LoFi Beats to Study To” this one got put on a lot as background tunes on the subway and while reading and working.
6. The Winding Way by The Teskey Brothers. I do love that blue eyed soul and this was another good album.
7. The Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monae. Sexy and fun.
8. Weathervanes by Jason Isbell. Not his strongest album but still a worthy listen.
9. That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware – Another sexy fun disco vibed album. Pearls was my jam this year!
10. Endless Summer Vacation by Miley Cyrus. Lot of Miley this year, and this album had some songs in heavy rotation.
11. Neo-Romance by Alexandra Streliski. Beautiful piano, this might be one of my most listened to albums. Need to get this on vinyl.
12. serenades by Jean-Michel Blais. Lot of neo-classical this year, am I getting old or something?