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Busy day today. Dermatologist appointment and blood draw 1sent me into Bellevue, So I made a day of it. Grabbed some sushi at Sushi Me (Kura was closed, which is sad, but probably saved me some money).

I needed to find some pork belly for a meal I'm cooking for this week, so I hit Asian Family Market and bought as many of my groceries as I could there. I'm surprised at how affordable it was. I tend not to buy groceries I can get elsewhere at Asian markets cause they're more expensive. Not so much here.

Normally, on this "scaled back" unemployment diet, I pick up Oranges, Bananas and Apple. I actully don't like apples. Don't hate them, just not really a fan. So I picked up some Korean Chamoe cause it was about the size of an apple, and it's a melon, which are my favorite types of fruits. We'll see how that goes.

Also finally picked up some Ramune, which I've never had before, and I've decided it's main gimmick is "Being hard to drink." :)

Came home, napped, and played a few hours of Tears of the Kingdom.

I don't talk much about my days anymore, mainly because since the layoff (and to a lesser extent, the pandemic) nothing is happening. Not a lot going on outside Tears of the Kingdom, and before that, there was just not a lot going on AT ALL. Wake up, watch TV, cook food, eat food, go to sleep.

Today was probably the busiest I've been since 2020.

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...did I just hear thunder?

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Two LGBT sites are now listing Florida as a "DO NOT TRAVEL" state for trans folk as DeSantis litigates us out of existence there.

https://www.eqfl.org/florida-travel-advisory

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So I have three filters on LinkedIn for looking for work. "Tech Support" "Manager" and "Screenwriter." Screenwriter is almost always empty, and only once have I ever applied to a request since the layoff.

But just this week, one lone job showed up. It was more for a producer than a writer, but I suddenly come to a nightmare scenario:

A writer request comes up during the strike, and I have to turn it down. Despite never being able to break into the WGA-West, I'm 100% behind them on the strike. But I'd hate to have a chance at doing SOMETHING and turn it down because of circumstances.

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Oh, what I'm making smells WONDERFUL.

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I've never cooked with a paper clamp before, but it works!

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This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Taiwanese Pork Rice Bowl (卤肉饭) (3 pics)

(minus the rice cause, you know, diabetic)

I've decided that three plain meals a week to save money isn't gonna do it anymore, so moving forward I'm making two plain meals, and one fancy meal. And this one is Lu Rou Fan minus rice. My house smells like an Asian grocery right now.

# Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Braised Pork)

Universal Yums

3.0 whole star anise
1.0 whole cinnamon stick
6.0 whole cloves
3.0 whole bay leaves
2.0 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
0.5 whole orange peel
2.0 slices ginger (sliced thinly)
1.0 pound pork-belly (skin on) (cut into 1/4 inch sized pieces)
2.0 tsp vegetable oil
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.0 whole onion (diced)
8.0 whole shiitake mushrooms (diced)
0.25 cup sherry
5.0 tbsp soy sauce
2.0 cups water
4.0 whole hard boiled eggs

1 - Bundle together the star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, orange peel and ginger in a cheese cloth or tea infuser.
2 - Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.
3 - Add the pork belly and blanch for 1 minute.
4 - Strain the meat and set aside.
5 - Heat the oil in a wok or large pan over low heat, then add the sugar. Heat the sugar until it starts to melt.
6 - Add the onion. Raise heat to medium-high and stir-fry for a minute.
7 - Add the mushrooms, stir-frying for another two minutes.
8 - Add the blanched pork, sherry, soy sauce and water. Stir while bringing the mixture to a boil.
9 - Once boiling, add the spice bundle and hard boiled eggs.
10 - Turn the heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
11 - When the meat is fall-apart tender, remove the spice bundle.
12 - Raise the heat to medium high, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes to thicken the sauce
13 - Serve over white rice and enjoy.

#cooking #thisweeksmeals