Read the problem.
Re-read the problem (optional: out loud.)
Mess up hair by thoroughly scratching head in confusion.
Throw some darts to help think of a solution.
Consider how to explain the solution.
Type frantically.
Realize a better, shorter solution and type that instead.
Publish.
Sip of coffee as a reward.
Next problem.
—
Credit: Anyone Can Cook (Better Homes and Gardens), p. 307
If you haven’t thawed and drained the spinach, do that first. Also grate the parmesan cheese if you bought it by the block instead of pre-grated. This recipe cooks really quickly, so you’ll want all the ingredients prepped before you start.
I got this cookbook as a gift from my mom when I first moved out of the UofL dorms and into an apartment. I don’t enjoy cooking, but since I’m an adult who likes saving money I figure I should get used to the idea. After looking at all the easiest recipes in the book, this was the first one I thought I could handle all on my own and that Amber was equally interested in tasting. The first time I made this it was met with rave reviews.
https://twitter.com/zarrek33/status/596466941461659650
Best thing about this recipe is there are so few dishes to clean afterwards and barely any prep time. You can use all pre-packaged ingredients! But if you buy high-quality stuff they’re all still really tasty. Newman’s Own red sauce is way better than any red sauce I could try to make from scratch. Simple Truth ricotta is damn creamy. And I’m pretty sure every italian restaurant I’ve ever gone to used frozen ravioli too.
Worst thing about this recipe is the name. No one will confuse this with lasagna. Everyone to whom you serve this will say, “this ravioli is delicious!” Feel free to call it just ‘ravioli,’ and then you’ll be seen as a vanguard chef, unafraid of boldly adding layered ricotta mixtures and spinach to your regular stand-by of pasta with red sauce.
I made this for the second time on Saturday and subbed out fresh kale for the frozen spinach, mostly because we had a coupon. It was still a non-life-crushing amount of prep and dishes, but I plan to go back to frozen. The time it takes to chop and wilt the leaves is about the time to cook the entire dish, and I didn’t taste a difference.
—
Normally Saturday is a day off for me, but this week has been weird and I feel the need to catch up on work with a half-day. While doing so, I thought I could use a change of pace with music. I pulled up Spotify and thought I’d look to see if Wil Wheaton had any public playlists. I saw none, but then I remembered that my boss, Matt Mullenweg, does.
So today, I hope you’ll join me in listening to some Jimmy Smith:
[spotify spotify:user:1211384122:playlist:0UyeHgR2wU5KVj5nts7zrJ]Or check out the rest of Matt’s playlists here. Maybe I should share some of my own too. 🙂
—
Amber and I switched to Chase when we combined bank accounts. It’s seriously been a wonderful experience. Today I had some fraudulent charges appear on my account and Chase sent me some emails asking me to let them know if they were valid or not. Of course, I’m always on the lookout for a phishing scam so I just called the number on the back of my credit card to clear it up.
Turns out, the warnings were legitimate and the card services rep was nice, professional, and got the situation handled quickly. Though they really do need new hold music.
https://twitter.com/alexjgustafson/status/599310321807921152
My only problem now? This credit card is so damn fancy I’m having a hard time destroying it.
—
One of the spots on all the ‘lists’ of travelling to Eugene was the Fifth Street Public Market. Since we’re not really shoppers, we figured it be fun to see but it wasn’t a priority. We were able to fit in on our last day in Eugene and got some gifts for folks back home.
We walked through the Saturday market as well, but didn’t take pictures because of all the crowd. Ended up eating lunch at The Barn Light, where they correctly keep the bourbons on one side of the line, and the Tennessee whiskey on the other. (They asked me to post it to Instagram, but twitter will have to do.)
https://twitter.com/alexjgustafson/status/596751213925924865
We got all of our stuff together, made sure we were all set at the train station, then heading to Cornucopia on 5th st to watch the Kentucky Derby.
https://twitter.com/alexjgustafson/status/594598024501854208
I was rooting for Ocho Ocho Ocho, who came in 14th place. From the first post position, he wasn’t a likely contender. But I knew I would be excitedly yelling at the TV in the bar, and knew I’d make maximum vocal impact if Ocho Ocho Ocho won.
Kind of a close call to watch the race and not miss boarding our train. But we made it.
https://twitter.com/alexjgustafson/status/594636455886000128
—
—
You know those electrical boxes found at intersections that control the traffic lights? In Eugene, we found a bunch of them decorate in cool ways. I really enjoyed that. Here are a few of them.
—
If you know me, you know I love beer. There is no way I could spend time in Eugene, Oregon and not go to Ninkasi Brewing Company. There was a lot of beer to be had in Oregon, and this is really the only brewery that stood out as truly amazing compared to what I can get home in Louisville. Named for the Sumerian goddess of beer (that was a Gus Bus Trivia question one time) they really live up to the calling of their craft.
One of the AirBNBs we stayed at was only a few blocks from Ninkasi, so we delayed our trip until then. It just so happened that night was also their first tapping of Maiden the Shade, a summer seasonal IPA. So it was a packed house. I snapped a few pictures, but mostly there was a lot of people and waiting in lines.
Maiden the Shade was very good. But my absolute favorite was the Tricerahops Double IPA. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a beer I liked better. I also tried the Quantum Pale Ale. For dinner we had the Sporkasbord platter (pictured above), Pad Thai, and a rice bowl with Pot Stickers from the Sporks A La Carte food cart. My favorites were the “mooinks,” bacon-wrapped meatballs, part of the sporkasbord.
Ber and I also got into a tiny Ingress battle over the tasting room’s portal while we were there. We held our turf well. As of this writing, we actually still own it!
—
Alex "Gus" Gustafson 