lasagna Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing: Funny The World

missed weddings

Another Sunday Stealing. Before I get into that, I should commend Bev Sykes of Funny The World for putting this up since 2008. I started doing it in 2009, off and on for a couple of years. Then, after ABC Wednesday ended and I needed something collegial with other bloggers, I found my way back to Stealing twice in 2021 (one was about COVID-19) and regularly since May of 2022. So thanks, Bev.

1. Your favorite part of the day

It’s long been around 5:30 a.m. when I wake up, go into my office, and check to see if the world has ended. If not, I do my Wordle (383 in a row), and Quordle. I post my blog link on Facebook; I used to post to Twitter, but I’ve been disinclined lately. I check my email, addressing the stuff I need to respond to immediately and deleting stuff I don’t have to open. Then, I’ll start writing a blog post if I have time, though I will likely finish it later.

2. Something you know a lot about.

Beatles albums, specifically, the difference between the US and UK releases. There were more US albums before Sgt. Pepper because the US albums had to have the singles included, and the UK releases eschewed using the 45s. Also, the US albums were shorter (11 or 12 tracks vs. usually 14). I wrote about a couple of albums here.

I’m also a calendar nerd.

3. An important person in your life.

I’ll pick Bruce, who used to be in the choir and IMO still should be. He is the source of Math Is Everywhere. He took my wife to her various doctors in the autumn of 2022.

My preferred pasta dish

4. Your favorite recipe

It’s for lasagna from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. Incidentally, I never cook lasagna noodles but add more tomato products than the recipe calls for, which generally does the trick.

5. An event that turned out differently than planned

There are a lot of weddings that fall into that category. My then-girlfriend and I were invited to a wedding in Albany on March 30, 1986. It was Easter Sunday. We called a cab 90 minutes before we needed it. It never came. So we walked. It was 87F (30.55 C), and we were all sweaty as we arrived in time to see the very end. A similar thing occurred on July 27, 1991, in New Jersey, involving my sisters, my mother, my infant niece, my then-bride, and me, missing my cousin’s wedding ceremony. All I will say is it wasn’t MY fault.

6. How you procrastinate

I’m playing Pinochle, spades, or Backgammon on my phone. But I don’t see it as procrastination but as a break between tasks.

7. The best type of surprise

Receiving music

8. Music that helps you relax

Huh. Does music make me relax? I dunno. It engages me, but relaxation would not be a term I’m inclined to use. Related: Neil Diamond turns 83 on January 24. Thank The Lord For The Night Time, which I just listened to, is my absolutely favorite Neil song.

9. A thing your life has in excess

Paper. I paid medical bills for which I need to get reimbursement. Various notes about genealogy. Unread magazines.

Nonagenarian

10. A book you want to read.

Are you kidding? My shelf is loaded with them. I’ll pick at random Renato! by Eugene Mirabelli, which I started reading and enjoyed reading, but then life got in the way. I like Gene quite a bit.

11. A person you’re always happy to see.

I’ve kept up with some folks I went to kindergarten with: Carol, Karen, Bill…

12. What time do you go to sleep?

Oh, it varies widely, 10 p.m., 1 a.m. It depends on how much I feel I still need to do. And utter fatigue comes into play occasionally.

13. A word to describe the past year.

Variegated

14. Your favorite household chore

Vacuuming, with a caveat. Using the vacuum is easy; moving the furniture to do the cleaning, not so much. Also, the sound of a vacuum tends to put me to sleep. I LOVE listening to others vacuum.

NFL football postponed?!

15. One thing you’d like to see

My genealogical chart with all of my great-great grandparents identified. I know 12 of 16.

More mundanely, I wanted to watch today’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills game. But “due to public safety concerns in light of the ongoing weather emergency in western New York, [it] has been rescheduled to Monday at 4:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by CBS. The decision to move the game to Monday was made in consultation with New York Governor Kathy Hochul in the best interest of public safety and with the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers as the region prepares for the storm.”

It is the correct choice. Still, I have an MLK event to attend, so I hope to watch the recording before someone tells me the score.

The year is ending at Sunday Stealing

human contact

This Sunday Stealing is The year is ending. I have a ritual closer to New Year’s Day. But it doesn’t preclude trying these on for size.

1. Wintertime comfort foods, habits, hobbies

At least once a year, I make lasagna. At least two of them because it’s less labor-intensive. I’ll do that for sure. I hate turning on the oven when it’s warm, but I LOVE doing so when it’s cold. Using the same Betty Crocker recipe, I have to adjust the quantities. It’s because of what has been annoying-labeled shrinkflation, though it’s been happening for decades. Thus, my 32-ounce cans of tomatoes are only 28 ounces.

2. Favorite seasonal/holiday music and songs

This List from four years ago will do.

3. The people I want to spend more time with next year

I hope that some folks who stopped attending church because of the pandemic – the service is on Facebook – will feel comfortable enough to return to in-person services.

4. How much I could change my life in 1 year if I focused

One can always pick one thing to do; I might pick working more on genealogy. But this would inevitably mean NOT doing something else, and I’m unwilling to unbalance myself in that way.

5. The valuable lessons I learned this year

I need human contact! One example: we had been doing church remotely from March 2020 to June 2021. Getting back together was a joyous occasion, and I never attended remote church again if I were in town unless I was sick.

Then in January 2022, because of a local surge of COVID, we went back to remote only. I HATED, HATED, HATED it. I couldn’t focus on the sermon. When we were back in person about a month later, it was such a relief.

This year

6. How I’d describe 2022 in 10 words

Daughter’s College; wife’s leg infection; COVID for three; Wordle streak.

7. My favorite Reads of 2022

I have an online subscription to the New York Times. It’s currently $4 a month. I’m enjoying it immensely. I used to read the newspaper daily in the late 1970s and 1980s but shifted to just the Sunday paper. Then it fell off the list.

8. Best movies I saw in 2022

I’m still contemplating this. But the two films I most enjoyed in a movie theater in 2022 were The Wizard of Oz, which I’d seen many times on TV; and Cabaret, which I had not watched in a half-century.

9. Favorite TV shows/episodes of 2022

This will sound snarky, but it is not intended as such. Watching the game show JEOPARDY, I always root for the so-called “super champions,” who have won ten or more games, to lose. To paraphrase Hawkeye Pierce on an episode of M*A*S*H, “I want someone else!”

Highlights

10. Memorable experiences from 2022

Going to Carnegie Hall with my daughter. Lots of live theater in the summer. Seeing, at different times, two of my oldest friends, who I first met in kindergarten. My sister’s high school reunion, with such a gracious host putting us up.

11. Three people I enjoyed spending time with this year

Uthaclena; Lee; Bruce.

12. How I handled challenges this year

With aplomb, of course.

Actually, new stuff usually makes me initially grumpy. Then, eventually, I discovered it’s not so bad, and I’m pretty good at it.

13. What I’m leaving behind in 2022

COVID. (From my lips to God’s ears.) I did receive the bivalent shot targeted at Omicron last week. I’ve never had any reaction to the vaccines other than a sore arm at the injection site.

14. How I changed most from the beginning to the end of the year

Perhaps a soupçon more optimistic

15. What I want to tell myself before the New Year

There are no federal or statewide elections this year. My email box should be far less crowded.

Also, when in doubt, eat applesauce.

The annual baking of the lasagna

Note to OGA: not as good as yours

lasagna Usually once a year, always in the winter or late fall or very early spring, I bake lasagna. I mean, why turn on the oven when it’s 86F (30F)? But when it’s 23F (-5C), that’s another matter entirely. And I generally make at least TWO of them, because the mess from making one just isn’t worth the effort.

On page 247 of Betty Crocker’s 40th Anniversary Edition Cookbook is the recipe for Italian Sausage Lasagna. Oddly, it’s in the Meat section of the book. Usually, I don’t put in any meat at all. I have added spinach, though.

This year, though, we had a half pound of chicken sausage, left over from my daughter’s experimental meal the night before. She told me that taking it out of the casings was “disgusting.” Oh, how bad can it be? It’s like ground beef, right? Well, no, actually. It felt clammy. Never again. I’ll slice it instead. The recipe called for two pounds, but we go with what we have.

I cook the chicken sausage, two mediumish chopped onions and some garlic that my wife had in the fridge. Did I add a couple teaspoons of sugar? I don’t recall. Need a lot of tomato. The recipe wants 32 ounces of tomatoes and 30 ounces of tomato sauce. I’ll at least double it.

Cook it all together until it boils, then let it simmer. The book says for 45 minutes, but I’ve gone longer and shorter than that. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix a carton of ricotta cheese, 24 ounces, and a carton of cottage cheese, 32 ounces, with a half a cup of Parmesan.

Don’t cook the lasagna noodles

Then spread the sauce mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Add the dry lasagna noodles, because dealing with wet pasta noodles is too much like work. Then more sauce, cheese mixture, sauce, mozzarella, noodles, sauce. Basically the idea is to have enough sauce and other liquids so that cooking the pasta is unnecessary.

Cover and bake 30 minutes, and uncover for another 15. Unless your oven is running cool, which ours does, and end up cooking covered another 20 minutes and uncovered for 10 more.

They turned out OK, one with wheat pasta, and one with the traditional style. But note to OGA: not as good as the lasagna you’re bringing over to my house on March 14, OK?

Lasagna – Weird Al Yankovic.

30-Day Challenge: Day 5 – Favorite Food

Do I HAVE a favorite food?

It’s much easier to pick the things I DON’T like.

Ah, a tough one. Certainly, I’ve stated my love of spinach lasagna. Partly, it came from the realization that I didn’t have to cook the noodles beforehand; no, you don’t need to buy those special noodles, you just need extra tomato sauce. But I don’t have it very often. Same goes for dishes with duck, or a beef steak.

I do know that I tend to like things mixed more than plain. Cheerios and shredded wheat is better than either component.
Ditto:
orange juice and cranberry juice
cottage cheese and apple sauce
sharp Cheddar cheese and a Ritz cracker

Thing is, I don’t like that many things over and over. I eat a lot of chicken, but it becomes tolerable only because it’s prepared in different ways.

Though I have gotten into ruts. If I have a bagel, it’ll always be cinnamon raisin, if it’s available. Likewise, strawberry ice cream, lamb saag (spinach) from the local Indian restaurant. My candy choice tends to be plain M&Ms, which I eat in color order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown); it’s part of the enjoyment.

Do I HAVE a favorite food? I suppose it’s spinach, a function of propaganda from daily doses of Popeye on television as a child.

It’s much easier to pick the things I DON’T like: things with peanut butter; things with the artificial banana flavor (I like bananas) or almost any fruit; anchovy; cauliflower; sauerkraut. Don’t drink coffee, beer, vermouth or Scotch, so I don’t like coffee ice cream, e.g.