Past Blast

Many years ago I went on a culinary adventure while living at the Consulate that I’m often reminded of to this day. It was on the weekend, likely a lovely Sunday afternoon and I needed to feed the beast. We used to do double headers pretty much every single weekend back in those days so it is probably say to assume that I was partly hungover and needing to power through. I specifically recall it being afternoon though, the rest I’m filling in with assumptions. I cooked up a lot of pasta in alfredo sauce, I assume large shells because that is my go-to pasta and based on the end game it fits pretty well. Rather than eat the perfectly cooked pasta in a bowl like a normal person or even from a plate like dummy I decided that I would put a couple of ladle fulls into a tortilla wrap and slug back the goodness that way. Three of the guys living in the house that summer were fitness and wellness enthusiasts and were immediately horrified by this move. The pasta wrap was something I was ridiculed for intensely for the next month or so and like I said, still comes up. It seemed fairly innocent to me, saved some dishes even. But having that creamy goodness (phrasing?) wrapped up in my fist was fantastic. Apparently it was doubling down on carbs and a ridiculous move but I’d do it again. I have done it again, once, to prove a point. So here we are a decade or more later and I’d just talked to Young Clark this week for the first time in a couple of years. Probably since I randomly mailed him a long letter that he didn’t care for. So the pasta wrap concept is fresh in my mind, plus the Chef and I were bantering about it over the last few months. I’ve got two sausage buns and nothing to put in them on the counter. They are getting to the age that they are going to start to turn soon and I know that 30-40% of food is wasted on this continent and I’m pulling that number back down no matter what. Sometimes at the risk of my own well-being. So what to do. I decided that I would cook up two sacks of Knorr Chicken sidekicks at some point in the morning that would be my meal for the first 2/3 of the day, having skipped breakfast. Sidebar for the sidekicks. I got on the chicken a few years back when I realized that you only need water and butter for this one, no milk. There was a time in my life where I struggled to use 1L of milk before it expired so I stopped buying it. Not wanting to waste and all. Now chicken is the only scent of sidekick I buy, I’ve given up on all the others. I do buy milk and force myself to hammer it down now to support the dairy industry in the country. Make sure you buy Canadian dairy products, look for the logo! Sidekick sidebar over. So if I’m making the sidekick and I have to use the buns you can guess what happened next. If you can’t, I provided a photo.

Also pictured here is the rest of the Knorr Chicken Sidekick. Recall that earlier I said I made two sacks of it. That requires only four cups of water and about three tablespoons of butter, a pot, bowl and spoon. (It used to just need a pot and spoon for dishes when I was younger.) I went about eating it in an irresponsible way, I mean I’d already gone off the trail with the pasta dogs so might as well explore the new landscape. The right way would have been to portion out what I should eat and put the rest away for the next meal, ideally paried with green beans but what I did was consume what I could eat and put away the meagre scraps. At least I’m learning. So that was the meal. Several hours later I chugged the last two pizza buns and a drumstick. Several hours after that but before the Leaf heartbreak started I put down a wrap consisting of the last of the chicken balls in the fridge and some sliced cheese. Water was consumed liberally throughout the day, because that is important, even when you’re eating like a fool.

Activity wise, there isn’t much to report over yesterday. Caught up on cards and livestreamed that on Twitch. I played a couple of matches on NHL20 and then got into the movies again. I watched two more off the list today. The Hater was up first and I’m going to talk about it. It is a foreign film that was dubbed over with english that gave me a small appreciation for what the rest of the world has to go through to watch english films. I had to turn on subtitles to understand the text that was on the screen and noticed that the dubbing and subtitles were rarely the same. The movie itself was a very modern and relevant tale. It was about a young man who is struggling in life and discovers a talent for manipulation of online affairs. He gets hired by an underhanded PR firm and starts plotting. I won’t give more than that but it was a film that left me with a different feeling afterwards, it changed my emotional state and for me, that is the mark of good art. I loved that it was a modern spin on traditional storylines but also was woven together to create a new story. Depsite the launguage stuff, it was a great movie. It is pretty dark and deals with some depressing or scary themes so you probably have to be in the right mindset to enjoy it, don’t be looking for a comedy or anything. Next was the Stand at Paxton County. This was based on true events and starred Shooter McGavin and some other people. Another fairly dark film with some downer moments but it really resonated with me. It covers the struggles of some ranchers in North Dakota who are being pushed around by some higher powers and it felt very familiar for me, working in agriculture. Not everyone is going to get the same level of enjoyment from the story but it is a new tale and fairly well done. Not going to win awards but it feels almost too real for me. There is a clip at the end of the actual people to lend some authenticity to the events. The last thing I did was to watch my beloved Leafs flounder against their opponent. I respect that the teams are evenly matched stats wise but the Leafs have a much higher calibre of players and should smoke them but they are playing a true team. A squad where every one works their guts out and pulls in the same direction. It was frustrating to watch but it was a perfect game by Columbus, I hope they can’t do that twice. It took an hour or so to settle down but I got to sleep this side of high noon.