How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?

Auspice · Dec 22, 2020, 11:03 PM

@derp said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

@macha said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

I am in a terrible spending spiral, and ordering out way too much. Like how lazy am I, when I can't fucking be arsed to boil pasta?

Babish - Aglio e Olio

This is simple to make. Like, dead simple. The hardest part is slicing and peeling the garlic, but it's so worth it. And it's dirt cheap.

I have made this stuff so much during COVID. It just doesn't get old. I seriously recommend that you give it a shot. You might end up eating out less just because this stuff isn't on the menu.

In the same vein, Pasta al Limone is super easy and super delicious. I keep the ingredients on hand for it.

GreenFlashlight · Dec 23, 2020, 2:01 AM

@derp That recipe is fine, and it was the first time I'd ever heard of pasta aglio e olio, but I recommend using an entire head of garlic, and crushing it rather than slicing it so it gets a nice crispy texture and clings to the pasta a bit better. And this will sound bizarre, but seriously, dissolving two sardines in the oil before adding the garlic adds a weird but really compelling flavor.

Derp · Dec 23, 2020, 2:01 AM

@greenflashlight said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

@derp That recipe is fine, and it was the first time I'd ever heard of pasta aglio e olio, but I recommend using an entire head of garlic, and crushing it rather than slicing it so it gets a nice crispy texture and clings to the pasta a bit better. And this will sound bizarre, but seriously, dissolving two sardines in the oil before adding the garlic adds a weird but really compelling flavor.

I personally do use an entire head of garlic, but I find that crushing it leads to it burning too easily, and I like big garlic pieces, so I slice mine. Crushing it would probably be faster, but I have one of those garlic press slicer-crucher things that makes just slicing it a breeze. You just put it in and squeeze and tada, garlic slices.

I will try this sardine thing though.

GreenFlashlight · Dec 23, 2020, 2:59 AM

@derp Let me know what you think of it. I've only done it once, before I got diagnosed as pre-diabetic and decided I had to cut the noodles from my diet.

Derp · Dec 23, 2020, 3:02 AM

@greenflashlight said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

@derp Let me know what you think of it. I've only done it once, before I got diagnosed as pre-diabetic and decided I had to cut the noodles from my diet.

Why, though? I mean, pasta is low GI food.

TNP · Dec 23, 2020, 3:14 AM

@derp said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

Why, though? I mean, pasta is low GI food.

And very high in carbs. Carbs metabolize into sugar.

Ominous · Dec 23, 2020, 3:18 AM

@alamias said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

I took a 13-hour drive just to get out of the house, drive up to the Sequoia National forest, drive-through and not get out of the car, then drive home...just so I could crack the windows and smell the fresh air and trees.

I love Sequoia, and I'm only like 5 hours away. Next time you want to go, I'll chip in half of the gas.

Auspice · Dec 23, 2020, 3:23 AM

@greenflashlight said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

@derp Let me know what you think of it. I've only done it once, before I got diagnosed as pre-diabetic and decided I had to cut the noodles from my diet.

I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic in the last year and I still can't do it. I've tried cutting back on sugars/carbs in other ways.

I love pasta too much ;.;

Ominous · Dec 23, 2020, 3:25 AM

On the topic of easy pasta dishes, I find carbonara pretty easy to make. The only tricky bits are you got to cut up the bacon and fry it and separate one egg yolk from its white.

GreenFlashlight · Dec 23, 2020, 3:57 AM

@auspice said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

I love pasta too much ;.;

I find that chick pea pasta is a pretty good substitute, but it's just not quite right for pasta aglio e olio.

@ominous said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

On the topic of easy pasta dishes, I find carbonara pretty easy to make. The only tricky bits are you got to cut up the bacon and fry it and separate one egg yolk from its white.

Have you ever tried making it the authentic way, with prosciutto* and whatever the hell else goes in it? I hear it's not really worth the expenditure or effort for the result.

*EDIT: Guanciale. Whatever it's actually called.

Macha · Dec 23, 2020, 4:10 AM

I have bookmarked things. But I still don't have the motivation to make the thing.

Alamias · Dec 23, 2020, 3:42 PM

@ominous That's about the same distance I am give or take. I wonder if you are in the south like me...?

Alamias · Dec 23, 2020, 3:45 PM

@auspice I feel your pain. I went full-blown diabetic, and pasta/potatoes are my downfalls. My wife makes the best (IMHO) mashed potatoes and I just can not help myself when she makes those.

And oh how do I miss my ramen... ;.; ;.;

Ominous · Dec 24, 2020, 1:55 AM

@greenflashlight said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

Have you ever tried making it the authentic way, with prosciutto* and whatever the hell else goes in it? I hear it's not really worth the expenditure or effort for the result.

*EDIT: Guanciale. Whatever it's actually called.

Nope. I use the standard recipe, except that I use bacon instead. Louisville didn't really have much a demand for guanciale, so stores didn't really stock it, and I haven't looked here in Cali for it, when bacon does just fine.

@alamias said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

@ominous That's about the same distance I am give or take. I wonder if you are in the south like me...?

Santa Barbara.

Alamias · Dec 24, 2020, 2:43 AM

@ominous said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

Santa Barbara.

OK, so you are a little north and to the west. I'm down in Ontario/Riverside.

Ominous · Dec 24, 2020, 5:25 AM

@alamias

A little? We're over two hours apart. At least you have close access to I-5 to get up to Sequoia. I have to take the 101 to Ventura and then 126 to get to I-5.

Wretched · Dec 24, 2020, 5:58 AM

@derp Slapchop, or other generic version = AMAZING for garlic. Like I use it for nothing else and its worth it.

Testament · Dec 24, 2020, 1:39 PM

@wretched said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:

@derp Slapchop, or other generic version = AMAZING for garlic. Like I use it for nothing else and its worth it.

Cobalt · Dec 24, 2020, 9:04 PM

I got a dog (temporarily).

PuppyBreath · Dec 25, 2020, 5:49 AM

My mom arranged for my son, who lives in another state with his dad, to visit over xmas against my explicit wishes. He's leaving for basic training in January, so she wanted to see him since it'll probably be a long time before she could again, I guess. Needless to say, I was livid that she'd go behind my back, endangering my son, and potentially his career if he got sick right before basic. But how dare I insinuate that she would ever put her grandson at risk.

Cut to this last weekend when he arrived and I took the risk of going to see him where he's staying at my parents' house because he's already here and I haven't seen him since January, and everyone keeps assuring me that they've been safe.

The next day she goes off on me saying that since I came and exposed myself to them all anyway, I'm coming with when she takes him back to his dad (like an 8 hour drive) since I must not be that paranoid after all. I said I'd take him back myself, so she starts making jokes about me already being exposed to her.

It's been several days and I'm still so fucking angry that I probably didn't even write this well enough to convey why I'm so fucking angry. I think I'm most angry that I can't even properly explain to my son why I haven't been back and why everything is so fucked up. And lord knows what they're saying to him about me.

I hate my family. I'm not coping well.