#slow cooker freezer meals

[exhaustedcosplayer]

Slow Cooker Freezer Meal Lasagna

#Slow #Cooker #Freezer #Meal #Lasagna

[ask-the-sk8er-pones]

Mongolian Beef from the Slow Cooker - Asian

#Whether you freeze this mixture of beef and carrots in a sweet-and-savory Asian-style sauce or put it straight into the slow cooker #it's easy and delicious! slow cooker recipe #cooker #freezer #cooker meal #carrots

[lynnturnips2]

#youtube #easy recipe video #easy recipes #easy #chicken #chicken thighs #freezer meals #cheap meals #slow cooker

[cardofrage]

10 Pork Slow Cooker Freezer Meals

#Pork Slow Cooker Freezer Meals

[haruharuz]

Dump & Go meals are probably going to be some of the easiest meals for people who struggle with depression, anxiety, or other types of disabilities.

If you're preparing for surgery, giving birth, or just feel exhausted all the time please look into them.

There's a few different types of dump and go meals.

Instant pot : VERY fast and efficient, you typically throw shit in there with MINIMAL work and press a few buttons and wait.

Crock pot: SLOW. Very slow. Your food will take hours to be ready so if you're going to be at home all day, throw it in there in the morning and it'll be done for dinner. For breakfast and lunch you can have easy meals like premade lunchables or sandwiches.

Pan: You throw everything on a big sheet pan and into the oven! Less dishes, simple and easy to do.

Stove: This one requires the most ACTIVE cooking. You'll need to stir/add/etc occasionally to check on it. Unlike the others where you practically add a couple things and walk away.

This also promotes eating at home and EATING in general. I'm no stranger to forgetting to eat for an entire day and then not eating only because I didn't have enough spoons to cook.

"Okay but how do I find them?" Go online, whether tiktok, youtube, or google and look up instant pot recipes, crock pot recipes, dump & go recipes, and freezer meal recipes.

MAKE SURE you thaw these out in the fridge! Every night before bed just pull one out and put it in the fridge :)

Edit: I will also make note! You can often find freezer meals that work WONDERFULLY ! An example is pre seasoning + cutting some chicken, potatoes, and broccoli. Label it CLEARLY with directions !

That means you can freeze a batch of 15+ dinners/lunches AT ONCE and then not have to panic about cooking. If you’re a rice lover like myself you can buy a small rice cooker and turn it on while the other pot goes and that’s IT that’s all it takes for healthy yummy dinner

#actually adhd #actually mentally ill #resources #actually autistic #mental health #adhd #adhd tips

[copperbadge]

[ID: Two images; one is a slow-cooker pan full of chopped onions gently sweating, and the other is my wax melt warmer, a lantern-looking object with a pool of warm wax in the lid, sitting on a windowsill.]

Okay. Now that I've done with the gross part, let's talk about the positives of today's cleaning!

Part of the reason I wanted to count yesterday's grocery trip was that I did an inventory of the freezer and found I was low on sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions, both of which I use frequently but are a pain to make when you want to be cooking other things, and both of which freeze really well so you don't necessarily have to.

I got a pound and a half of mushrooms plus three pounds of onions, and this morning I chopped up the onions and put them in the slow-cooker; I'm trying slow-cooker caramelized onions again, simply because I'll still have to babysit them a bit at the end but this way I don't have to spend forty solid minutes standing over the pot. I chopped the mushroom caps and sauteed those in chunks, but I also chopped the stems super-fine and put those in a pan of veggie broth to simmer and soften. (I don't mind the odd stem on a pizza or something but they can be a little tough, so when I prep them myself usually I cook the stems separately and puree them, then use the puree to flavor sauces.)

While the mushrooms were simmering, I got started on the kitchen counters, first wiping down the hutch where I keep my meds and Shabbat supplies. I'd been keeping the new wax melt warmer, meant to help my home smell nicer, on the hutch, but the kitchen is kind of closed-off, so I finally found a spot where it was both safe from the cats and also near an outlet but could spread its scent a little further.

And then I had to tackle the area to the left of the sink, where I do a lot of my meal preparing and also snacking. I mentioned this in the Soap Dish post earlier, and you can even see the edge of the freshly-washed dish over on the right. I moved everything, washed the counter with Grease Lightning and then vinegar before wiping with a damp cloth, then cleaned everything you see in whatever way it needed cleaning and put it all back. (The yellow mug is what I use for weighing liquids while baking, and the two bowls I often use for recipe prep; the rest is mostly snacks, though the "butter" dish is a French Butter Bell, which I link because I know people will have questions. The slatted board is a bread-slicing board that I use for meal preparation sometimes because it's easier for me to clean than the counter.)

[ID: An image of my kitchen counter; it has a paper towel dispenser and a set of bamboo shelves at the back, and resting on the shelves are several boxes of snacks plus a couple of bowls. In front of that is a slatted cutting board, as well as a crock reading BUTTER on it and a bottle of dish soap. Off on the left, mostly off-frame, is the sink; on one corner of the sink's lip is a metal contraption for holding sponges and soap.]

#naclyoho #cleaning #national clean your home month #food

[tightwadspoonies]

I am allergic to all nightshades (tomato, potato, peppers, eggplant) as well as shellfish. I'm also physically disabled, so standing at the stove or counter for long periods of time is painful. My food options are so limited as a result, and I end up relying on frozen foods more than I'd like. Any ideas?

Trail mix: Lots of things can be purchased in pre-sized pieces from bulk stores and mixed in zipper bags. I recommend dried fruit or berries without added sugar, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc..), nuts, and puffed grain or cereal pieces. Making your own mix is usually a healthier and more customizable option than buying pre-made, so you can expand it out to a meal or just eat as a snack.

Meal shakes- Combine a regular smoothie recipe with some heavy cream or nut butter for more calories. These are much easier to clean up after if you use a stick blender and rinse it off immediately.

The following recipes minimize prep, or allow prep to be done at a different time than the meal will be consumed:

Sheet pan meals: Cut pieces of 2 different vegetables (sweet potato, onion, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, etc...) and a meat (chicken, sausage links, beef, pork, etc...) into 1-inch cubes, toss in oil of choice with spices of choice (I like garlic, onion, salt, and black pepper), lay on a sheet pan, and bake until the meat is cooked through (30-45mins at 350F).

The chopping can be done seated and/or done ahead on a good day (or even purchased pre-cut at some supermarkets) and frozen (lay on a baking tray in the freezer for an hour, then put in a zipper bag) for a quick meal on a bad day. You can cut down on dishes by lining the pan you freeze or cook with in parchment paper.

Instant Pot or slow cooker meals: Put some meat, roughly chopped onions, spices of choice, oil of choice, and broth in a slow cooker or instant pot, set to appropriate settings and wait.

Make rice or other starch ahead of time and freeze in portions. Then all you have to do is microwave it to go with a sheet pan dinner or instant pot dinner.

Non-nightshade sauces can be tricky, but here is a relatively easy one that doesn't require sautee-ing. It does require an instant pot or slow cooker and blender or immersion blender.

#health #diy #food

[billetwoes]

The Boring Introductory Stuff (and the interesting...) Billet Woes Part 2

Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at fanfic. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, rudeness is not.

Word Count: 5,537

So, you had finally met your assigned guest and...so far, so good! However, he thinks that you are uneasy around him. What are you (or what is he) going to do about it?

Yep, this is the boring introductory part with lots of planning, but there's also a lot of food :D I hope you enjoy!

****************

In the following days, you had prepared yourself and your place for your guest. Your contact information was stored in a secure database at the Outworld Investigation Agency, and always with consent, was given to the Clans/Agencies of future guest. In your case, you were contacted by the wife of the Shirai Ryu’s Grandmaster, Harumi, via encrypted e-mail two days after Lord Liu Kang paid you a visit. You were informed that you will be billeting one of their warriors.

As Lord Liu Kang had mentioned, it is estimated he would be staying for a month. He will be arriving in exactly one week from today and you are instructed to meet him at a specific muster point; the date, time, and address where you will be picking him up were provided in the email.

You asked if there are any allergies to food and cats that you need to be aware of, as you suddenly thought that you had nobody who be willing to look after your kitties for a month. She denied any food and cat allergies. You thanked Harumi for the information.

At work, you had requested for a few Fridays off, two of which were granted for the last two weeks,

including the Mondays for those weeks to boot. This would give you time to catch up on orders and time

for cleaning. It was a good thing that your workplace was unionized so that any vacation days taken were

paid. You used a personal time off day towards the day that you are to pick up your guest.

You are a planner and a perfectionist, even though you hate that term and tend to interpret that as a slight when being called one to your face.

The longer of your two couches can be unfolded and made into a guest bed and you had sets of clean

bedding and a down duvet ready. You also deep cleaned both the guest bathroom and your

bathroom.

You had a pad of paper in front of you and began to list all the food and toiletry items. Once that is done, you began to meal plan for 3-weeks worth of food most with simple enough recipes or one that you can quickly assemble and throw in the slow cooker or oven to do the work for you. The rest of the days you reserve for taking your guest out to good restaurants in your city with a few of your close and trusted friends, if the circumstance permits it. You didn’t know what his shift or days will look like, but you want to have Plans A-Z just to be as flexible as you can.

While you were cleaning the apartment and your Roomba was doing its daily job, the kitties were staring at you with interested and curious eyes while meowing loudly and nearly making you trip a few times. They can sense a change in your behavior and energy while moving and rearranging things and vacuuming their cat trees and dusted the cat shelves that decorated the living room walls. Luckily, you don’t have to move the kitties’ litter box, as you had the large robot kitty litter box that the girls share with no issues, and it is in your bathroom. You made a point to install a cat flap on your bedroom door and were willing to pay to replace the door if you decide to move somewhere else.

You made a Costco run for the first week of your guest’s stay with you during the weekend. Once you got home and organized the snacks and fruits in baskets and set them on the island counter in the middle of your kitchen so that they are easily accessible and put away the meats and vegetables in the fridge and freezer, which you have deep cleaned a couple days prior.

You did all this while juggling your job, pushing out orders from your small business, and looking after the kitties. Once a hard day’s work is done, you went through your nighttime rituals and hit the sack.

All night, you heard the never-ending flapping of plastic as the kitties were going in and out of the cat door and pawing at each other by pushing the plastic door repeatedly. You had wondered whether you made a mistake with that modification while resisting the urge to scream at the cats.

The day arrived when you are to pick up your guest. You are to meet outside an abandoned building in an industrial area at 4 pm. You were glad that you had the day off so that you are relatively relaxed and had lots of time to grab a coffee from Tim Horton’s. When you arrived there, you droved into a parking lot where there was a group of around 20 people with Lord Liu Kang. Also, there were two ladies. The first one wore a black trench coat with her hair in a neat ponytail and comfortable flat leather boots. She also had what looked like a sheathed katana strapped to her back. The second lady wore what looked like a black leather vest with a wide belt with pink and white garments underneath the leather vest. Her boots and fingerless leather gloves also matched the color scheme of her clothing, and her hair had small side braids that were tied up into a high ponytail.

As you parked in a stall, you and a few other billet hosts walked towards the group, some with their children, and once everybody was present, Liu Kang raised his hands to get everybody’s attention. The crowd of people shushed each other, and all turned their eyes towards the Fire God.

“Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for coming here today,” he began, “Most of all, we are grateful for your dedication to look after our warriors and protectors. You honor all of us.”

He then turned to the first lady in the trench coat and motioned to her, “This is Harumi, the co-leader of the Shirai Ryu.”

She nodded solemnly and addressed the hosts, “We are truly grateful for supporting our warriors. Your roles are of the utmost importance. As you have been informed, there is a suspicious area with a portal appearing and disappearing identified outside of your city that needs to be monitored for threats. We suspect that this portal is from Outworld, but it could be from the Netherrealm or the Chaos Realm. Constable Li Mei from the Sun Doh District of Outworld is working with us to investigate this anomaly.” She gestured towards the second lady.

The second lady stepped forward, “We suspect that one of our generals named Shao is responsible for this, as he is guilty of insurrection against our kingdom. There have been talks and rumors in our realm about a group of rebels under this general to invade your realm. I give you my word that I will not rest until all threats are neutralized.”

There were concerned and slightly panicked murmurs in among the billet hosts. You listened attentively with held breath, which you only let out now. Many people asked questions and raised concerns. Fortunately so far, this was the only one known to date and nothing of concern by way of a serious threat has arose.

Harumi stepped forward to speak, “Your willingness to aid us by opening your doors to our warriors that are strategically close to this area makes it convenient for us to respond to any emergencies. Be assured that you are far enough that you are safe. Should any of you be endangered, our warriors will protect you.”

“On behalf of Outworld, we are in your debt,” Li Mei said gratefully, “Harumi and I will not be joining you, as we have to attend to matters concerning our clan and people.”

The billet hosts, including yourself, nodded in support and expressed heartfelt gratitude for the warriors, and they returned the gesture.

“And now, we will begin assigning your warriors to you,” Liu Kang announced, “Harumi and Li Mei will separate in to two groups. Once your name is called, please step forward.

On queue, the Outworlders, who were dressed in their traditional garb grouped together behind Li Mei and the Shirai Ryu, who were dressed in t-shirts, zip up hoodies, leggings, dark washed jeans and sneakers. One by one, Harumi and Li Mei took turns calling names and people stepped forward to be paired with their guests. Greetings and handshakes were exchanged, and smaller groups began to walk away towards cars as pleasantries and excited chatter from children faded.

“Y/N,” Harumi called.

You stepped forward and walked towards her.

“Tomas,” she called turning to her left.

A tall man carrying a couple of medium sized duffel bags stepped forward. His hair was gray, which surprised you, but you did your best to keep a pleasant expression. Is that his natural hair color? The next thing you noticed was his demeanor. He wore a serious expression on his face and his piercing silver-gray eyes had an intense look. There ere a couple of scars above his left eyes and his eyebrows were shaved, at least you though they were, in such a way that made him look intimidating. The image of a rattlesnake came to mind because its top eyelids were slanted above it eyes that made them look perpetually angry and mean all the time.

“Y/N, this is Tomas,” she gestured towards the man, “also known as Smoke. He is our second in command. I trust that he is in your capable hands.”

‘Smoke’ in reference to his grayness??

“I will do my best,” you replied humbly, nodding then turning to Tomas, “Hello, Tomas.” You shook his hand.

He smiled and shook it back, “Hello Y/N. Thank you for having me.” He sounded friendly(!) which kind of threw you off guard.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” you replied, letting go.

“I will take my leave, Harumi,” He bowed respectfully.

Harumi nodded, “Stay safe, both of you.”

You both walked towards your car.

“Is this your first time in Canada?” You asked starting a conversation.

“No, it isn’t,” he replied, “I’ve been billeted before in Quebec and the Yukon. This is my first time in Alberta.”

“Welcome to Alberta! Have you eaten, by the way?” You asked him, wanting to make sure he’s comfortable.

“No, not yet” he replied.

“Would you like to go grab a bite first? We can discuss the details when we get home,” you offered, “Do you have a preference?”

“Whatever you recommend, I’d love to try the food here,” he replied happily, smiling, “Thank you!”

“Alright, then! I’ll take you to one of my favorite spots,” You started the ignition and set up Google maps and entered the address of one of your local favorites, which is a French-Scandinavian style restaurant. The Elder Gods forbid that you get lost on your way out of this deserted location and spend time driving around in circles. Though friendly enough, the mental image of a happy rattlesnake in Peter Parker’s voice made you laugh internally.

Your dinner was light-hearted enough and you kept conversations casual and asked each other surface-level questions about each other. He touched on his experiences with the Shirai Ryu and his relationship with Harumi and her husband, Grandmaster Scorpion. Turns out, he was his adopted brother.

“Oh,” you exclaimed, “That’s something!” As if your insides weren’t chaotic enough with the knowledge that he was the second-in-command, he was THE ADOPTED BROTHER of the GRANDMASTER of the Shirai Ryu. The pressure! Before your brain had time to process that, your nervous system had decided that you’re screwed.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, looking concerned, “You look scared?”

“Uh,” you laughed nervously, “Well, I guess I’m dealing with precious cargo! Ha ha! Yeah, a little.”

“Don’t be! I’m human, like you,” he reassured, “I don’t bite.”

You nodded, still laughing nervously. Your perfectionist brain, otherwise known as the brain that took over your Asian Parents after you left them, went into hyperdrive. ‘Smile!’ ‘What are you doing?! Fix your face! You are making a bad first impression!’ ‘Say something intelligent or you will make him lose face!’ ‘He’s more important than you, watch your manners!’ For those of you who had Tiger Moms, you know the PTSD that comes from that upbringing. You raised your eyebrow while rubbing your forehead to try and soothe yourself.

“Ok,” you replied, still with an incredulous smile, mentally beating yourself with a wooden stick to get yourself to calm down, “I’m sorry. I-uh, I just got…” You feel embarrassed because you probably made a fool out of yourself.

“Wow, this duck is really good!” He praised, taking another bite of his dish. It felt like he was distracting you from your chaotic thoughts by redirecting your attention towards the food, and you were grateful for it. “I can see why you like this place. What other dishes have you had?”

“Oh,” your thoughts snapped back to the present moment, “I love their cod dish, which is unfortunately a seasonal item. I often come here for brunch, especially during weekends, so I’m more familiar with that menu. I love the Oeuf en Cocotte and their Grav Lax. If time permits, I’d love to take you here again for brunch and to other hot spots!” You had forgotten how nervous you were moments ago because any mention of food and restaurants will get you excitedly talking and making recommendations.

“I’d like that very much!” He took another appreciative bite of his food.

“I’ll stop talking now and let you eat,” you muttered, “I tend to talk a lot when I’m nervous.”

The both of you ate the rest of your meals in silence. Once your empty plates were cleared, your desserts came, which was a salted caramel chocolate cheesecake with candied pecan and toffee crumble on top with crème fraiche vanilla bean ice cream on the side and a couple of macarons. 

You paid for your dinners and drove home in a happy mood. Once both of you entered in your apartment, you introduced him to your kitties, and always the social butterfly, Minou immediately rushed to smell your guest for a couple of minutes before she decided that Tomas was worthy of being marked as a friend. She meowed, purred, and rubbed her body and head against his legs.

“Well, hello there!” Tomas smiled and greeted in a high voice that sounded like how someone would talk to a cute toddler, “You’re so friendly! I’m Tomas, your new friend!” Minou flopped on her back and exposed her belly in response.

Bijoux on the other hand, stood a few feet away staring at Tomas warily. When Tomas finally noticed her and went to introduce himself, Bijou took a couple of steps back and hissed.

“Bijoux,” you scolded in a stern tone, “Be nice!” You went to pick her up, but she bolted and hid in your room. “I’m sorry!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure a stranger in her space must be uncomfortable for her,” he chuckled, “We have a few stray cats in our compound, so I’m familiar with their behaviour.”

You gave Tomas an orientation of your apartment, starting with the kitchen, showing him the food that he can help himself to and the appliances that he can freely use. Next was the living room, where you explained about the couch that you will unfold to make his bed; then you showed him the guest bathroom where there was a new set of toiletries and shower items, which he can choose not to use if he brought his own stuff; you showed him the closet outside the guest bathroom where he can access clean towels, and the laundry room beside it; finally, you briefly showed him the room that you have set up as a work shop and explained that you will be keeping this shut during times when you will be working on orders. You gestured to your bedroom, which you didn’t show because that is your space.

Finally, you lead him to the counter where you keep your keys on and where your landline is. You pulled open a drawer and pulled out a laminated envelope labeled “Emergency”.

“If you ever need it, there is money in here for emergencies,” you explained, “Do you have any questions?”

Tomas shook his head with an expression of approval, “So far, I have none! You really went out of your way to make sure that I’m looked after! I am impressed…and grateful.”

Humbled, you briefly bowed your head before responding, “Thank you, I appreciate the kind words. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I will!” He was smiling. You had decided to sharply nudge your jerk brain to cut out the jerk-talk and your nervous system is still on amber alert. You breathed a sigh of relief, and Peter Parker rattlesnake is behaving like Minou and rolling in rainbow.

“Anyway, I want to discuss our schedules so that I can plan on accommodating you,” you gestured towards the dinner table, “Would you like something to drink?”

“I would like some tea please. I’ll try the triple berry please.” This you made for him, and you made yourself a chamomile tea. You offered cream, milk, sugar, honey, or Stevia, and he refused all of them.

You discussed how the both of you would be coordinating your schedules. As Lord Liu Kang had mentioned, both schedules were close enough, which makes it easier for you to accommodate him. The large group was broken into three smaller group that would be covering the morning, evening and night shifts. It was very important that all the warriors had time to rest, maintain their training, communicate with their superiors, and just as equally important, socialize and maintain relations with their hosts. It is also important for the hosts to be close by just in case they need to take the warriors to the site to do their jobs.

Tomas was assigned to the morning shift. You start work at 8:00 am and the morning shift started at 6:00 am. This means that you would have to get up at 4:00 am to make breakfast then take him to the site, which will take 20 minutes if there is no traffic, as per Google Maps on your laptop. That meant that you have to hit the sack at 8:00 am in order to get a full 8-hour’s worth of sleep. Once you dropped him off at the muster point, another host will take the entire morning group to the site, then you can head home to work on orders before driving to work. He ends his shift at 2:00 pm and you end your shift at 4:30 pm, which meant that he had to wait for you for 2 ½ hours. To complicate things, you didn’t know what the traffic situation was like driving to pick him up at the muster point.

You then asked him if he knew of any of his group mates that were being billeted in your city, and he knew of two. Tomas had proposed to have a Zoom call to see what their situation looked like with their hosts, which was arranged after he contacted them. While one of the hosts was in the same situation as you, the second host, a lovely lady named Lisa who appeared to be in her thirties, fortunately worked from home and can pick up the three warriors and, with consent, can bring them to a friend’s place that has a large space dedicated to workout. There, the three can train there until you and the other host get off work to pick them up at the friend’s place. This was a stroke of luck which lifted a heavy burden off your shoulders. All of you in the call exchanged contact information, got the address of the friend’s place, thank Lisa for the kind accommodation and hung up. One major problem solved.

You wouldn’t have any issues with making dinner once you get home, which lead to the next question of what his food preferences are. You were told by Harumi that he had no allergies, which he confirmed. He said that he had no preferences and would be happy to eat whatever you made. You also wanted to know what his typical meals were like (ie. How much protein, how much vegetables, what time he typically eats, etc.). He gave the basic information and told you not to worry about following the regimen to a tee.

You asked about his lunches and whether you needed to pack food for him, and it sounded like you did as there was no mention of any arrangements for lunch. Noted.

You also took account the time difference between Edmonton, your city, and Japan, which was 15 hours, so you worried about jet lag. Tomas explained the Shirai Ryu’s current situation with the Lin Kuei and how they are always on a state of being on red alert around the clock, and therefore must be ready to respond at any time, even if they must wake up in the ungodly hours of the morning. You made a comment about how exhausting this sounds, which he agreed saying it was an understatement. He reassured you that you didn’t need to worry about his sleep schedule, as he is able to adapt easily.

“So, you guys are pretty much more than first responders,” you said, shaking your head, “dealing with your personal feuds and protecting us at the same time. Thank you for your service! To say that we appreciate you would be an understatement.”

“Kind words, Y/N,” Tomas replied humbly, “And we likewise thank you for your service. We would be in a much more difficult position if it were not for what you do for us.”

The rest of the conversation involved tying up loose ends about your arrangements and during this time, Minou decided to jump on the table make friends with Tomas some more by exchanging head bonks and purrs for scratches and praises.

You offered Tomas more tea, which he accepted. Once this was done, you decided to set up his bed. You unfolded the couch, put on the bedding sheets, two pillows (you made sure to buy memory foam ones, and the down duvet, which had its own duvet covers.

It was an hour before you went to bed so you decided to lay out the ingredients for breakfast on the counter (save the eggs and bacon, because heaven forbid you inconvenience your guest with food poisoning!).

For his lunch, you made something quick, but made sure that it was as nutritious as hell, because, neurotic much? You cut some herbs and vegetables to be roasted with two chicken legs which you seasoned well and with olive oil and chicken rub. You threw that in the 400 F preheated oven for an hour. While that was in the oven, you made some pilaf which you flavoured with minced garlic, mushrooms and chicken stock. Once this was done, you scooped the piping hot rice into one side of a large two compartment container and washed the pot and some utensils. Once the chicken was done, you first scooped the roasted veggies on the other side, then the chicken legs on top of the rice and veggies. You set the lid on top but not fully covered to let steam escape so that it would cool down before you put the whole thing in the fridge. 

Boy do you have A LOT to get used to for the next month! No more being a night owl for the next month or so, and thankfully, you had a week’s practice to sleep earlier, even though you obviously needed more than that.

You noted that Tomas was observing you with a smile. Deep down, you felt scrutinize, but pushed the feeling down, as you were most likely overthinking things.

“You are taking this far too seriously, Y/N,” he chuckled, “I can see that you enjoy cooking. I am excited to try your food, it smells great!”

Maybe it’s how you’re perceiving things. On first impression, he seemed polite and friendly; in fact you felt that he was too polite that it was making you uneasy. You were a suspicious person by nature, especially when it comes due to having been surrounded by polite people in the past that showed their true colors down the road. You didn't think that he was like this, as you have just met him and so far there were no issues, so you concluded that you were overthinking things to prevent yourself from seeing him through that lens.

You shrugged it off and replied in a nonchalant tone, “I haven’t billeted one of you guys in a while, so I need to be on my A-game. I’ve been accused of being neurotic at times, but I feel it’s justified.”

“I like your attention to details and how focused you are. I’m a little concerned, as you seem…how do I say this, uneasy,” he explained, piercing eyes staring at you.

“What do you mean?” You asked, trying to hide the fact that you are due to fighting your own internal thoughts. You made yourself continue to clean to avoid his eyes, “I’m ok.”

There was an uncomfortable pause and when you raised your head, he kept his eyes on you still.

“WILL YOU STOP STARING AT ME???” You mentally screamed at him, “YOU’RE MAKING ME UNCOMFORTABLE!!”

“What?” You asked, still scrubbing the glass dish under the running water. Being stared at and scrutinized irritates you in general, and you can feel yourself starting to head there.

“I see…,” he said gingerly, followed by another silent pause, “Anyways, who was the last person you billeted?”

Saved.

“Ashrah. She’s a doll!”

“A “doll”?”

“It’s one way of saying she’s amazing with a great personality, like, she’s a peach or she’s a gem.”

Tomas nodded, “Ah, yes, she is amazing.”

You washed the rest of your dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Once the dish with the chicken has cooled down enough, you secured the lid and placed it the fridge after asking if that amount was enough for lunch.

“Goodness, that’s plenty!” He exclaimed, eyes brightening appreciatively.

“Good.” If you had guests, you have the quirk of cooking way more food to make sure that nobody starves to death.

After cleaning the kitchen, both of you decided to call it a night. Minou did not curl up between your legs that night like she usually does, and Bijoux was still hiding under your bed with her ears flat against her head when you tried to coax her out.

******************

The next week was the week of settling into your routine. You found that getting up at 4:00 pm after being disciplined enough to sleep at 8:00 pm was no problem at all, mainly because your psyche won’t allow you to jeopardize Tomas’ mission. Negative reinforcement has usually worked when something important is involved.

The both of you went about as planned, having the first breakfast of his stay. You’ve made scrambled eggs, bacon, and banana blueberry pancakes with oats, the latter which in your opinion was ok as you normally don’t eat breakfast, let alone make it. You went overboard with the assortment of fruits, nuts, granola bars and Greek yogourt. Plus, there was an assortment of juices, milk, almond milk, oat milk, and your lactose-free milk.

You had to warn Tomas about keeping the bagels in the bread box as Bijoux, the grumpy calico, was obsessed with bagels. The two cats were kept in your workshop while you had breakfast, to their disappointment, and their miserable meows serenaded your ears, which you apologized for, assuring Tomas that you weren’t an abusive cat mom.

You cleared the table once done, reheated his lunch and packed it in an insulated lunch bag. The cats were let out once their wet food and automatic dry food feeder has been filled and had full water dishes. You drove him to the muster point.

You went about your workday and once done, you picked up Tomas from Lisa’s friends place once work was done and went home for dinner. Rinse, repeat.

The week went by smoothly with no problems (thank the gods!) and there were no complaints coming from him. Again, he remained polite and respectful.

While the weekends were more relaxing for you, as you had no work, the warriors worked 7 days a week. You hoped that they got compensated well for that, and that is also part of the reason why you always go above and beyond when you billet them.

On Sunday evening, you passed an area of the living room where Tomas was having a private phone conversation with someone; he had his back towards you.

“It has been uneventful so far, Kuai Liang. No threats yet.”

As you didn’t want to eavesdrop, you went about preparing dinner after locking the kitties in your workshop. Again, the miserable meows filled the air.

When the pot of vegetables that you had cooked in a pot filled with vegetable broth and coconut cream started to boil, you pureed the mix with your immersion blender until the pot magically turned a beautiful vibrant orange. You added more salt, sugar, cracked pepper and spices to taste until you had achieved a desired balance.  

You then proceeded to make a simple apple salad with a sweet and tart citrus vinaigrette that paired well with a large pork roast that you had in the oven, and then toasted slices of sour dough with the roasted garlic and herb compound butter that you made a few days ago. There was also gravy ready made on the stove. Since it was the fall, you wanted to make something season appropriate.

Once that was done, you set the table and started to bring out the food. While you were doing so, you overheard this:

“There have been no problems with my host so far. I have been properly spoiled with home made meals…………Well, she is nice enough, but she’s too serious. Cagey. I’ve been observing her and my first impression is that she seems uneasy around me, like she’s scared of me!” This was followed by loud laughter by the person on the other line.

You stopped moving and were taken aback.

“………Actually, in fairness to her, I do remember her reaction when I mentioned being……(more laughter on the receiving end)…....no, it’s not funny!.........What?? Since when am I intimidating??.....(……….”yeah, man!”).....I  also look too serious? It’s never my intent to…………..Cut it out! I do NOT look like a Russian villain!”

You kept moving and managed to finish setting the table and let slipped a silent stifled giggle. You couldn’t help but wanted to eavesdrop, even though you know you shouldn’t.

“I don’t know how to get her to be more comfortable around me,” Tomas hissed quietly, “…………Oh, really?..............That’s the thing, I’m not, though!” He let out an exasperated sigh, “You know what? I’m hanging up now!”

You decided to hang out in the kitchen and pretended to finish up.

There was a delightful exclamation of “Oooh! This looks amazing!” from where the dining table is.

“What would you like to drink?” You asked from behind the counter, opening the glass.

“Lemonade, please.”

You filled a tall glass with his juice of choice and you settled for a hot apple cider and took the glassed to the table.

“By the way, you don’t have to lock the cats in. I am fine with them roaming around,” he said reassuringly.

“I didn’t want them jumping on the counter while I’m making food, nor do I want them on the table while we’re eating, because, you know? Litter paws. Germs.”

“Fair enough. I feel bad for them, though.”

You began carving the pork roast while Tomas bowed his head and said, “Itadakimasu!”, and then helped himself to the salad and toast. All the while, you gave no indication that you overheard the conversation he was having with Kuai Liang, but in the back of your mind, you were dying to know what they were saying about you.

#tomas vrbada #tomas x reader #mortal kombat #mk1 #harumi hasashi #li mei #li mei mk #mk1 liu kang #liu kang #mk1 tomas vrbada #mk1 smoke #smoke #funny #kuai liang #mk1 kuai liang #scorpion #mk1 scorpion

[jeanjauthor]

Writing, OCD, and "What If?"

I have OCD. It went undiagnosed for most of my life, but then things like that were only spoken of in very hushed tones in the early decades of my life.

I thought things like "counting steps in fours!" was because I had been immersed in music all my life, so it was only natural that the most common time measure, 4/4, was a part of my life.

And I thought things like "developing a system to remind myself that something on the stove or oven is ON--the stove light--OR something in that area needs to be handled in a few hours when it's cooled off--covered dishes, jarred foods for fridge & freezer, etc--and it can ONLY be turned off when everything on or around the stove is off AND taken care of!" was just sensible. (It's also an ADHD management tool, because unless I remember to set a timer, I can forget...but I've trained my family to Look Around The Kitchen To See What Needs Doing If The Stove Light Is Still On, too...so it works!)

Anyway, I just saw a commercial--skipped over it after a few seconds--that talked about OCD thoughts also including "What If? scenarios.

My first reaction was a sort of mental snort-laugh, and I thought to myself, "I do that all the time as a writer! I use What If to create stories!"

They were talking about, "What if someone in my family gets hurt because I'm not happy all the time?" and other, far more intrusive thoughts which I won't get into here. And I realized...yes, I have those thoughts, too. Apparently OCD includes Intrusive Thoughts in its category umbrella. (I learned something today!)

But then I re-thought about it, and realized...I use What If like a UNO Reverse Card, and I also use my OCD like a UNO Reverse Card, by turning a potential negative into a positive. In the kitchen, I have set up a series of decade-long habits: Stove Light Is On, Check What's Going On. There's food in the slow cooker, there's foil over a cooling casserole, there's jarred meaty spaghetti sauce to be checked to see if it's finally cool enough to freeze, or even just stick in the fridge. (I always cover my food while it's still very hot to reduce chances for spoilage.) (Also the meat sauce we made just a couple days ago was soooo gooood, I kept wanting to snatch a bowlful and just eat it as-is, lol. Managed to put away 5 quart jars, so yay, that's five meals' worth of magnificence!)

In writing, that "What If?" has been turned away at least some of the time from bad or at least disruptive/disturbing intrusive thoughts...into a powerful tool for positive things.

I use What If all the time when thinking of story ideas, scene ideas, characterization ideas...and then--and here's the important part--I use that What If scenario (which sometimes can be A Bad Thing), and I figure out how to make it right again.

Here's a somewhat upsetting scenario of an intrusive thought, "What if I drove off this bridge?" WHOA, TOTALLY NOT WHAT I WANT TO THINK!! (which is why it's called an intrusive thought, it's an intruder that is unwanted...so I remind myself that this is not me, just my brain crossing wires and sparking utter BS.)

To grab control of my mental steering wheel, I FIRMLY think instead, "What if my character from (story) saw someone on the edge of a bridge? How would THEY handle that situation?"

There was a guy down in Australia (Donald Taylor Ritchie, may he rest in peace) who saved hundreds of would-be jumpers' lives over the decades by just talking with them, and inviting them to sit and have a cup of tea while he listened and commiserated, giving compassion & comfort & sympathy at his home near a certain bridge.

Or I might have a thought, "What if the building catches on fire???"

I think instead, "How would my hero save the day if a fire DID break out, either here or in their current location?"

I'm not trying to make me the hero...because that's hella exhausting some days and my brain fights me on that, those days. I'm trying to retrain my brain to use the Intrusive Thought in creative and constructive ways that don't force me to actually act. It's telling my OCD to Sit Down, You're Not On Stage Here, It's Another Character's Turn On Stage.

...This has had the subtle but powerful effect of training my mind to disengage my body, especially when it's one of those, "Dump in ALL the Turmeric!!" moments...which is an uncomfortable thought as it's a large jar and there's still a lot in there, and it's a natural dye that will stain EVERYTHING it touches. But I digress.

If you have OCD and Intrusive Thoughts...first, my deepest sympathies, I really do understand. Second, you can learn to Uno-Reverse the negative sides of such things. Good kitchen safety habits are one. What Would My Character Do is another.

Third, if you think of it as a training-for-an-emergency scenario, you're actually far more likely to be able to act in a genuine emergency...because this is OCD's secret super power.

But if you're afraid that thinking about it from your perspective will have you actually doing it (when it's not needed)...then think about your characters doing it.

And if you're not a writer? Think of it as a character in a roleplaying game, tabletop or video game. Heck, think of it as the characters from Stardew Valley, or Minecraft, or No Man's Sky! Remove it from you, personally, to Someone Else's Experience Entirely.

It takes practice, and it's a subtle effect...but it's a powerful tool in the end.

#writing #ocd #managing ocd maybe #things to think about #playing the UNO reverse card as much as possible #intrusive thoughts #tw

[wordnerdworld]

Day 7 NaClYoHo

I accomplished today's goal of cooking a meal in my slow-cooker!

My goal was to use up some ingredients I already had on hand and to give myself some tasty food to eat the rest of this week. In that sense it worked! It's not my favorite version of beef stew and sadly the potatoes I was going to serve it with were no good (very green and very sprouted). But I improvised and still have tasty food to show for it!

Only...not literally show because I forgot to take a picture :_(

I would be the worst food blogger ever, lol. I almost always forget to take the picture.

Tomorrow is probably going to be a Very Busy and Very Tiring day at work (that's likely to be the theme all week), so I'm going to keep my next goals small:

Call to make appointment

Write my Christmas list

There are some other kitchen-related tasks I'd like to complete--cleaning out my spice cabinet, cleaning out my pantry, donating any eligible items, using up stuff in my freezer, cleaning out baking items. We'll see if those make the goals list this month or not.

#NaClYoHo #salty pirates #naclyoho 2023

[six-of-ravens]

to do today:

finish The Copper Crown

housework: dishes, laundry/wash sheets, tidy the living room, vacuum/mop, clean out the fridge

commune with the freezer and figure out some meal I can make and freeze for work lunches (once again, it might be too late for slow cooker ribs but I am SO TEMPTED and it would be REALLY NICE to not have the giant thing of ribs out of the freezer. Edit, just went and got the ribs out lmao. I will defrost them in a sink of warm water and then figure out how to cook them after this yt video)

put the dried oranges on the tree as I've been meaning to all week (and then maybe buy more oranges to dry and make a garland?)

do a yoga bc holy shit my neck HURT when I was trying to sleep last night

tragically, look at my finances and attempt to do some budgeting (luckily both my internet and phone bills have gone down so it might not be as dire as I fear)

basically do all the Hard Weekend Stuff today so all I have to do tomorrow is make nuts n bolts and get groceries

#there are probably things im forgetting but this is it for now #not actually many chores this weekend bc i washed all the dishes yesterday LOL #just need to do a few more dishes from last night and then the kitchen is good to go

[quokkafoxtrot]

This is a mid-level spoons meal purely because of all the steps. (And this version calls for two other pre-made low-spoons foods.)

Get some frozen pre-made puff pastry. Slather a flavour in the middle of it. I’ve used caramelised onion relish.

Put some pre-sliced mushrooms on it.

Put some slow cooked beef on it. (1)

Put some fetta on it.

Close it as best you can.

Cook for 25 at 200c or until it’s golden brown. Or until you remember you were cooking. (This oven turns off automatically. I recommend it So Much.)

Put it on the edge of a plate and shove it towards your mouth so you don’t have to worry about cutlery.

It Will Be Hot and It Will Dribble Hot Mushroom Water.

Slow cooked beef: whack a beef bolar blade in a slow cooker by itself for 2-3 hours. It’s cooked when it falls apart. (You can boil down the juices to make a reduction gravy if you want. If you do the only regret you’ll have is that it’s so delicious and it takes so long.)

This has caramelised onion butter in it as well, but that’s a big prep food that I pulled out of the freezer.

Boner petite

Edit: Feta was not the right choice for this. I just saw it in the fridge and went oooh. Use your best judgment.

#Quokka cooks

[motherhenna]

For easy, cheap meals my go-tos are usually:

- Breakfast burritos (you can keep tortillas in the freezer/fridge, salsa, sour cream, cheese, eggs however you like, if you have extra lunch meat or leftover meat it can be thrown in)

- Tuna rice bowls (canned tuna with a little mayo, rice, I usually keep frozen edamame in the freezer, if you have furikake or seaweed snacks those are nice to top with, sriracha)

- Basically lunchables (crackers of choice, cheese, lunch meat if I have it, any fruit I have on hand but honestly grapes and apples are my favorite with the cheese)

- In college I used to keep a jar of pesto on hand and whenever I made pasta would just finish it in a pan with pesto, cheese, and milk to make a creamy pesto sauce

Whenever I do have like a really good weekend day or burst of energy, I try to make something that I know will last me a few days or will freeze well (like jambalaya, an easy soup from scratch, etc). I’m not the biggest fan of slow cooker recipes but honestly they’re often low effort and I will make some every now and then to save energy!

Thanks a lot, anon! I'll keep all of those in mind--I actually just bought some tortillas earlier today for chicken quesadillas so burritos are certainly another option!

#ask #anon

[saint-ambrosef]

cheap food anon. dinner is either curry, chili, or soup. Chicken, tomato, onion are usually involved. lunch is salads and wraps. usually lettuce, chickpeas, cucumber. breakfast is attempted but rarely eaten, eggs or oatmeal. I know rice and beans is go to cheap meal but lord is it boring. Smoothies sometimes

Beans and rice does indeed get boring fast.

One of my go-tos is ground sausage, the kind that comes in a little one pound tube. I get it for $2.25 at Aldi but you can get it for $3-4 at other stores. It can do anything ground beef can, for cheaper. You can make it last many meals by mixing with plant protein (like beans for tacos or lentils in a ragu sauce), and it will still add so much flavor and texture.

I would also recommend shredded chicken. Works well with the cheapest cuts, like whole leg quarters; just throw them in a slow cooker (or a covered baking dish in a 225F oven) for 6ish hours. Shred up. Put some in the freezer for later. Use for tacos, wraps, fried rice, salads, casseroles, stews, pizzas, quesadillas, etc.

For cheese, opt for "extra sharp" cheddar, you only need a little to add a lot of flavor (compared to mild cheeses) so they stretch.

Frozen vegetables are a great resource too. I can usually get a pack of peas or broccoli for under a dollar each. Kale and spinach are often very cheap fresh; they can be eaten raw or cooked, so I throw them into all my soups and sauces. Button mushrooms are also inexpensive. Sweet potatoes make GREAT homefries.

If dairy is an option, you can make creamy soups/sauces with a roux. Good with pasta, you can make a rich and hearty mac and cheese too.

It doesn't sound like you do much Asian cuisine? Stir-fried chicken and vegetables (carrots, cabbage, bell pepper) over rice is an economical, easy meal. You only really need soy sauce and a little fresh ginger root to get the flavor profile.

Homemade baked falafels over salad with some sour cream or homemade tzaziki sauce would be a different spin on your usual lunch. Try it with quick-pickled onions (legit just throw chopped red onion in 1/3 white vinegar and 2/3 hot water mix, let sit in the fridge at least 20 min).

Lentil Bologense over mashed potatoes is the cooler older sister of beans and rice.

Quiche is a tasty way to use up any leftover bits of meat, cheese, and veggies. If you don't have cream, try subbing for evaporated milk.

Try canned cannellini beans roughly smushed in a bowl with garlic, salt, black pepper, and olive oil: spread on some toast and top with fresh tomatoes, fresh cilantro, and a healthy squeeze of lime juice. Spinach would be good too.

Black-eye beans, corn, fresh tomatoes, red onion, bell pepper, and cilantro tossed in olive oil and balsamic ("cowboy caviar") is great with corn chips.

Also, quickbreads are your friends!! Cornbread is super easy to make and goes so well with chili and stews. And just good snacking.

I hope at least some of this helped or at least gave inspiration!! It's well passed my bedtime so I gotta leave it there for now. :( Feel free to ask for more advice if there's something in particular you are struggling with!

#ask

[thessalian]

Thess vs Victim-Blaming

So there’s this jackass Tory MP Lee Anderson. His constituency’s food bank oblige people to sign up for cooking and budgeting courses before they’re allowed to pick up food parcels. Because, he says, “There’s no massive need for food banks in this country; it’s just that nobody knows how to cook anymore! You can cook a meal from scratch for 30 pence!” He says a day; I think he means per person.

Either way...

Once I got past the rage, I did actually have some rebuttals for all of that. Which I tend to fire at the people who agree with him in my hearing / reading.

For meat, we’re talking about off-cuts. Those tend to take rather longer to cook than the average, because they tend to be tough. Now, in a household where the kids are too little for that kind of cooking and the parents have been at work (at one of possibly several jobs) ... who the hell has the time? Come to that, who the hell has the energy? When people are working too hard for too little already, they’re not going to be able to put off bedtime - especially not for their kids - to cook a meal.

Of course, people might talk about just putting it into a slow-cooker, and that brings us to another issue: equipment. A lot of cooking from scratch requires things like roasting pans, baking dishes, crock-pots. Now, you can get those things cheap, but they’ll fall apart faster for being cheap, and need to be replaced a lot more often, at more expense. That’s if they can manage the outlay in the first place. And honestly, even if they can afford these things, where the fuck are they going to find the space? I live in a pretty decently-sized flat and my kitchen is the approximate size of a postage stamp, and I have issues trying to find space for everything I have, never mind what I need for easier, cheaper meals. Anyone in a less comparatively luxurious living space is going to have a lot more problems with that.

This 30p figure probably comes with the concept of buying in bulk and a lot of division. So let’s talk about buying in bulk. First, it requires you having the cash to make the initial investment in it. Yeah, that huge bag of rice will make a lot of meals, but can you afford the initial outlay on that huge bag of rice? If you’re relying on a food bank right now, probably not. Then there’s perishables, which you can’t buy in bulk unless you have a decently-sized freezer. Do not underestimate the number of people in this country who have a refrigerator the approximate size of a mini-fridge with a freezer with the storage capacity of a toaster oven. There’s also getting it all home, which is difficult if you do not have a car, which a lot of people don’t. And honestly, even if they do, with the price of petrol lately, anything they save on that kind of shopping will just be blown in petrol fees.

And finally, let’s talk about the amount of energy - electricity or gas - that it takes to cook these meals from scratch. Energy prices have more than doubled lately. No hyperbole. People are asking food banks not to give them carrots or potatoes not because they don’t know how to cook them, but because they can’t afford to cook them with energy prices this high. We’re talking about a situation where old ladies are riding the bus all day because they can’t afford to heat their homes; the energy consumption of an electric kettle feels like too much for people, never mind cooking tough off-cuts of meat, or lentils.

These are the things that no one’s talking about anywhere near enough. They talk about compassion and everything, and that’s fine as far as it goes. Thing is, the logical fallacy of the situation shouldn’t be ignored either. People can look up a recipe on Google (hell, I can cook and I turn to the internet for recipes quite often), but that doesn’t solve all of the rest of the above. I’m tired of the victim-blaming. People shouldn’t need to prove that they can cook / budget before being permitted a food bank parcel. They shouldn’t be obliged to ‘show willing’ by taking a class, either. A lot of those people already have jobs and cutting into what little free time they have while some teacher tells them to do things they have literally no time or money to do because the initial outlay of both is too high for any of this to be viable ... it just feels cruel. So that’s where the compassion comes in, yes. Still, pure logic says this is stupid. If people can’t afford the initial outlay for ingredients and cookware, or the petrol / delivery fees to get bulk food home, or the very energy required to cook it both in terms of gas / electric and of personal spoons reserves, then all of the cooking and budgeting courses in the world won’t help.

Lee Anderson spends thousands on staff per month, by the way. I’d bet a cook is in there somewhere. Not to mention that the Houses of Parliament have subsidised meals. So the politicians on six-figure salaries have their gourmet meals heavily subsidised and they grudge people who are barely making ends meet with multiple jobs a food parcel unless they at least appear to accept the blame for their plight instead of blaming the people whose economic policies and Brexit have put us in this mess in the first fucking place.

They’re still looking for ways to “ease the cost of living challenge” (yeah, they insist it’s a challenge, not a crisis) ... but they’re still trying to find ones that don’t cost them or any of their wealthy donors money. The best they’ve come up with so far is to make a lot of civil servants redundant because “Covid is over and Brexit is done so we don’t need them”. Except those first two points aren’t true. Covid is not over - we just don’t see the numbers anymore because testing is no longer free, and the news outlets are more fired up about Ukraine and the Northern Ireland Protocol debacle. Brexit is not over - we still haven’t set up our own checks on EU goods because we haven’t got around to the infrastructure needed for doing so, and now the “oven-ready deal” that Johnson and Frost were so gung-ho over back in the day is being called a “travesty” that “the EU forced us into” and now those involved are saying, “We’re going to do what we want and break our international agreements and if the EU starts a trade war, it’s their fault for not letting us do whatever we want with no consequences!” (No, seriously, they keep saying that the EU would be “silly” to “shoot themselves in the foot” by imposing sanctions or cutting trade entirely with the UK, when we’re the ones who’d actually suffer. Our government is only world-beating in its gaslighting.)

So, yeah, they want to make more people unemployed in the middle of this mess. Because the Tories Be Like That. And we’d never see the money we supposedly saved by no longer paying those civil servants anyway. They’re taking cues on making their finances look good from the video game industry, this government.

...HEEEEEEEEEEELP.

#Thess on politics

[nebulousneuroticism]

I slept way too long last night.  When I got up, I felt very groggy.  I tried to shake off the grogginess by taking a walk through the chilly weather to the mailbox, but in the end I just got stuck with a slight headache for most of the day.

I spent a little while cooking--I used some raw chicken (I hate handling raw chicken, so it’s been in the freezer since last year).  I put it in my slow cooker, which I rarely use, with some barbecue sauce and onion, and let it sit for six hours.  It was past midnight by the time it was done, but it was tasty.  In the mean time, I decided to make a turkey sandwich, but I forgot I was out of turkey, so I ended up eating a veggie-and-cheese sandwich for breakfast.  Not the most satisfying meal.

Then, I spent a few hours preparing for Dungeons and Dragons tomorrow.  I drew some maps on a play mat I borrowed from one of the other DMs, and I wrote up a bunch of notes so I remember what to do.  Hopefully, I’ll have enough material to last the session... I guess we’ll see.

I finished that, ate my late-night slow-cooked dinner, and then spent the rest of the night with more Trails from Zero.  It was pretty nice, but my headache was bothering me and I felt like I couldn’t concentrate.  Maybe I need more exercise or something.  Probably.

I feel okay tonight.  It’s extremely late, so I’m actually a little worried I’ll oversleep for D&D.  That would be quite the feat, considering we don’t play until the evening.  Maybe I should set a late alarm, just in case.