Reeling In The Years - 05 March 2022 - Plague Journal Day 723

Micah 6:8
2 Timothy 1:3-7
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

As a public service, I remind everyone that today is National Poutine Day - not to be confused with National Putin Day which is the fifth of never.

On a less fattening note, today is also Reel Film Day. This is a celebration that is near to my heart, as I have co-written, co-produced, and co-starred in a couple short films - and by films I do mean they were on film, not a digital format. What great "fun" that editing together of short bits for each scene can be! As a member of the Library Club, later the IMC (Instructional Materials Club), I was carefully trained in the ways of projectors - both filmstrip and 16mm! (Kids, ask your grandparents if those terms seem meaningless.)
Even more timely, thanks to Andreas at Yellow Door, I've seen myself as a toddler. It's a surreal feeling in a more accurate sense than the way that term is usually applied. We found some old 8mm films at my Dad's house and had them transferred to mp4 files and there we are. It's shocking how many things I remember from when I was tiny, now that I've been reminded of them.

On This Day In History!

 

On 05 March 1981 the ZX81 home computer was launched. The British ZX81 was one of the world's first home computer and was sold over 1.5 million times.

(It was sold over 1.5 million times? That makes me wonder: was it so durable it lasted long enough for that many sales, or was it such crap that no one wanted it, but they found over 1,500,000 suckers to buy it from the previous guy anyway? Perhaps they mean over 1.5 million of them were sold. Perhaps.)

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Putin on the Rideau - 26 February 2022 - Plague Journal Day 716

Micah 6:8
1 Kings 12:6-15
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

As he moves to rescind his clearly illegal Emergency power grab, PM Justin "Poutine" Trudeau no doubt has mixed emotions about the war in the Ukraine. I do believe his statements condemning Putin's invasion; however, I'm fairly certain he's also relieved to have a real big-time power mad autocrat take centre stage for a while, drawing attention away from his hopefully only very temporary "l'état, c'est moi" period. I used to think he was just a joke, but his horrific handling of the truckers' protest in Ottawa exposed him for the autocrat wannabe that he really is. His first reaction was to hide, hoping they'd go away. When they didn't, his vindictive nature took over and he decided he had to crush the opposition, forgetting that these are the very people who put him in office. The Labour Party is supposed to be the party of labour - it doesn't get much more labour union-y than truck drivers / teamsters, does it?

I was never a huge fan of his father, but I can only assume Pierre is spinning in his grave these days. Justin, it's time to grow up. It's also time to leave - let an adult run things for a while.

Today's freewrite prompt word is Crush.
I took the liberty of using it above, but it also puts me in mind of orange pop (soda to those of a certain persuasion).

My go-to meal at National Coney Island used to be two on one, light onions, and an orange pop. I don't know if they used Orange Crush or not, but that made me think of it. It also made me remember a great Nesbitt's Orange commercial with a catchy jingle and surreal, almost Rube Goldberg-esque animation.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Pastage du Jour - 18 September 2015

When camping in Canada, one wants to eat some classic Canadian cuisine, eh?
What could be more Canadian than poutine? How about Kraft Dinner? (Yes, just as was celebrated by the Bare Naked Ladies, Kraft Dinner.)

Ah, but cooking at a campsite in bear country brings with it some extra considerations. How to clean up? How to dispose of any leftovers? Et cetera?
So, disposable foil baking pans to the rescue!

We brought some nicely salted water to a boil in a 9" foil baking pan over one burner of our handy Coleman propane stove, then added a tad of oil to prevent sticking (never mind what Alton Brown has said on this topic. He's wrong.) and into the water went the noodles.

Once they noodles were cooked through (it took a bit more stirring to make sure they all cooked pretty evenly under these circumstances), we drained the pasta into the lake (where the ducks seemed to think the slightly-flavoured water was quite interesting), and added 4T of butter, the cheese sauce packet, a little bit of milk, and a few tablespoons of herbed goat cheese to make the cheese sauce cheesier and creamier.

With the addition of some leftover pulled pork, this was a spectacular meal eaten in a beautiful setting with a spectacular view.

Delicious.