Covid-19 Days – 51: A Day Late and a Dollar Short

broderic on May 4, 2020

Oops. I missed a day. Am I starting to slack?

I realized this when I woke up this morning. I went to bed early last night and completely forgot. I was fast asleep by 10 PM. I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. I think I slept for at least 8 hours!

So, this post should be the first of two today. What I did yesterday? Cooked some arrozcaldo and contemplated the beautiful weather. What will I do today? You’ll have to wait at least 12 hours to find out… more next time!

Seafood Ramen

broderic on April 15, 2018

久しぶり!

Long time no see!

I had too much seafood in my freezer. There was some shrimp. Some fish balls. Chicken stock, too. And there was some ramen. I guess I’m making seafood ramen for dinner!

It was to be my own recipe. Maybe I should open a ramenya.

Started off with onions and garlic sautéing in EVOO with a pinch of salt, some ground pepper, and some red chili flakes. I was gonna make the tare like a clam sauce. When the garlic and onions were browning after 10 minutes in went a can of chopped clams. Reserve the juice for later.

I let that cook while I got water boiling for the ramen.

Oh. I also bought some scallops. It was my first time to make fried scallops. Over medium heat, with EVOO and some butter, fried them up. It’s really easy to mess up scallops. I think I burned one. But I tried to get them off the pan so they don’t dry out. Maybe 3 minutes a side. Even if they weren’t cooked through I expected them to get a bit cooked when they sit in the broth.

To the clam tare I added a quart of my chicken stock. Brought that to a boil and then added some fish balls and the reserved clam juice. I have no idea what type was in this. They were bought at H-Mart in January. They need to be used.

I made a mistake with the noodles. I did not defrost them enough so that as I cooked them I had to do them for longer because they were somewhat frozen together.

First the noodles. A good base I started with some shrimp paste. In went the noodles. Then dumped the broth in. Almost spilled out the bowl. Added the scallops and the shrimp. Done.

It was nice. Lots to eat. And fishy. I still have shrimp and fish balls and I didn’t use all the clam tare. Maybe more ramen soon. Except I’m out of noodles!

Black Panther

broderic on March 21, 2018

This review of Black Panther is several weeks old, but since it is still doing boffo business at the box office, then this review is still relevant.

I still liked Thor better, but this MCU movie is good too. I teared up at the death of Killmonger. Why’d he have to die. He should’ve been rehabilitated and put to use in the MCU.

Watch it.

4 of 5 stars.

Resolved [Week 52]

broderic on December 29, 2017

I made a big deal about my New Year’s Resolution for 2017, and I failed to keep at it. Not completely, but at a few of the items I earmarked.

I believe the hardest part was to blog about it. I think it was because there was a format to the post that I wanted to follow. Formatting the post was a bitch to do so eventually I stopped posting. Perhaps, that made me fail to accomplish some of those goals. Sadly, isn’t that the deal with resolutions — that they are made and never completed.

Anyhow, let’s see how I did.

Health
* Resolution: weigh 210 lbs. Results: weight 224 and rising because of the Holidays. I’ll revisit this on next year with probably the same goal. It’s always the same year in and year out: lose weight.
* Resolution: lose 5 inches on around the waist. Results: perhaps an inch or two. The pants fit, but they may not soon. Got to get back on this one too.
* Resolution: Lower my resting heart rate by 4 BPM. Results: 83 BPM. Some change. This one is too tough to measure as I don’t think the apps I am using are fine grained enough.
* Resolution: Lower blood pressure to 120/85. Resolved: Unknown. This is bad. I had to get this down to stave off the diabetes. It’s coming isn’t it.

Exercise
* Resolution: 150 miles on a bike. Results: 2 rides a total of 25 miles. Way too short. I should’ve gotten this one. Still scared about riding on the rode. Must be overcome because I miss biking.
* Resolution: 120 outdoor walks. Results: 142! Killed it. Do I up this next year?
* Resolution: 5 rowing per month. Results: Hit the goals in January, February, March, and May. Did not row the other times. It’s because of my elbow and how my form contributes to making it hurt.

Professional Life
* Resolution: learn a new language. Results: did not do
* Resolution: get a new job. Results: did not happen. Although I am doing something different. Still need to explore this in 2018

Personal
* Resolution: blog more on different topics. Results: Failed as most of the time it was still movie reviews. Although, I did have that bookstore haul thing going on.
* Resolution: Cook more and cut dining spending by 25%. Results: Failed. Spending is down just not 25%. It doesn’t help when you have to pay for many big birthday meals.
* Resolution: Read more books. Results: Failed. I bought more books. Did not read the ones on the night stand.
* Resolution: Japan. Results: Failed. Sadly I really wanted this to happen, but I chickened out because of traveling alone.
* Resolution: Study Japanese. Results: Failed. Although I am now working on it via Duolingo. I should’ve been slightly proficient if I started from the new year.

Once more. I failed. Will I resolve next year for the better? We’ll see.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

broderic on August 30, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming is no Spider-Man 2, but at least it isn’t as unlikeable as The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I almost said this one was as good as 2. Almost. It at least made you care for and like Peter Parker. Of course, if you watched close enough it followed 2 very closely in emotional beats. It was very much the same film. And that’s why I knocked it down a bit.

I liked Peter Parker, but he’s such a kid.

4 of 5 stars.

Baby Driver

broderic on August 30, 2017

I didn’t think this was Edgar Wright’s masterpiece. You can’t beat his Coronetto Trilogy. Baby Driver tries, but sure can’t. It did have a funny moment with Mike Myers, but that would be funny.

Anyhow, I saw this a while ago. I don’t remember much. But I’m sure I would watch this on FXX when they show it and I’ll enjoy it then, too.

3 of 5 stars.

Bookstore Haul: Volume 6: Overdue Library Books

broderic on July 30, 2016

I forgot that I am doing this series. Whelp, it isn’t the first time I don’t post anything until later. Just look at how long it takes me to write up a movie post…

Now why did I get another book? I haven’t even gotten through the myriad of ones purchased already for this series. All books are languishing on the nightstand not being read. Do I really need another one?

The book I had gotten was William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, autobiography of a journalist/surfer. I’ve read some of the book before. I may even have already a copy! Who knows?

Also bought was Monocle magazine’s annual city ranking issue. Now that makes me want to go visit Japan…

Battle: Los Angeles

broderic on March 21, 2011

It is true about what the critics have been saying about Battle: Los Angeles. It really is a movie made up of all the action flick cliche’s you’ve already seen.

Let’s check off some movies that Battle: Los Angeles is indebted to. Black Hawk Down, Alien, Aliens, District 9, Saving Private Ryan, Bourne Identity, 300, ID4, Transformers, War of the Worlds, Avatar. The list goes on and on. I even threw in movies I’m not so sure was in there, but no doubt with squinty eyes they can be.

That said I enjoyed it still. This will be one of those movies on TNT or TBS that you’ll watch whenever its on.

3 of 5 stars.

Morning Glory

broderic on December 2, 2010

Ooops. I should’ve written something about Morning Glory a while ago, but never got around to it before taking off for vacation. The review would’ve been awesome with lots of insight. Now, I can’t even remember the film. All I know is Rachel McAdams is in it. She hasn’t been in many films lately, but it was good to see her again.

3 of 5 stars.

Comp Sci Special

broderic on November 11, 2010

Thanks for all the input to my upgrade question. I got plenty of responses, all good and helpful.

The order of options went as follows: 1) new laptop 2) iPad 3) iPhone.

We’re gonna go with the laptop. It upgrades her to the 2010s and positions her for the future of computing. Later maybe an iPad is in the future. The iPhone would be a step too far for her. She barely uses her phone already.

I can’t wait for this new machine.