I got my 'sushi maker' today, and am really excited to try it out. I've been googling different recipes for different kinds of sushi and kimbap. It looks pretty straight forward, and I have three recipes to try initially. I need to get to the store and pick up the ingredients. I'll start with that, and see how it goes. I also want to pickle some ginger.
It sounds silly, but it feels good to be excited about something in these trying days.
I received my second package in the mail and I knew as soon as I picked it up, I was not going to be happy. In my ongoing quest to avoid Amazon, I shop directly from manufacturers if I can. I shop on Walmart as well. This package came from Walmart's 'MarketPlace' and it was supposed to be a quarter pound of hematite. The package did not weigh 1/4 pound. Sure enough, I opened it, and there was one lone piece of hematite in there, nicely packaged in a cotton lined box. Interestingly enough, they paid for shipping on .25 pounds though.
Anyhoo...
I've never had to make a return through the Walmart system before. I started the process, was sent an e-mail with a barcode, instructed to take the package to Walmart. They scanned the e-mail, took my package, and that was that.
So...two orders. Two unsatisfactory packages. Two very easy returns. So...I can't complain.
Well...I can complain...just not about my Christmas orders. (I mean, Dr OZ???? Really????)
Ahem. In any case, it's been a quiet day here. We bought another large Christmas gift today. One by one, we're ticking items off that list.
I told my sister what I want for Christmas. Two tractor scoops of cow manure. I told Tim what I wanted. 4-6 raised beds. We have untreated lumber from Levi's sawmill. The next four years are going to be a big economic question mark. It's going to be important to be as self sufficient as possible. That is my belief, and it would be nice to be wrong about it.
Anyway, over at Jennifer's blog she posted that a seed catalog arrived today. It is only November, but honestly, the idea of planting a garden next spring was so irresistible that I had to order 3 of my own.
If it sounds like I'm distracting myself, well...I am.
Feel free to add your own suggestions for your favorite distractions in the comments.
I am participating in my favourite distraction right now. It requires full concentration and I stop thinking about anything else. I am not a fan of sushi but I should give it another try.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many different kinds, so many different recipes. I have one kimbap and two sushi recipes, all three pretty basic stuff with minimal supply lists.
DeleteMy usual distraction is to plan fantasy holidays to exotic destinations that I shall never take. I spend ages choosing the best rooms in 5 star luxury hotels, looking at restaurant menus, checking out interesting sites to visit, walking around places on Streetview and (not) booking first class air tickets etc.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the final cost soon brings me back down to earth with a bump though.
Good luck with your sushi.
Oooooh. I knew you were an exotic character. I could just tell.
DeleteHave fun with the sushi recipes. I find trawling through YouTube is a great distraction and a timewaster.
ReplyDeleteI really spend too much time on the computer now.
DeleteOOOH! A sushi machine sounds fun! As do 4 new raised beds.
ReplyDeleteI've got them all figured out. I know exactly what size I want. I know exactly where I want them put. If I ask for them for Christmas, I know that it is less likely to get brushed aside for 'later'.
DeleteDistraction? Reading blogs and blogging, reading, sewing....weeding in the spring and summer...chatting with friends in NZ, planning...hoping...
ReplyDeleteYour Christmas wishes are good...being given things that you need is just the right thing.
I find it difficult to give things "just because it is the time"...for me, the right time is when something is needed.., whenever!!
Planning and hoping... That's the sort of thing we all need in our lives. I'm trying to find something in the future to look forward to.
DeleteYou have it...grandkids..Mattie and Levi.... gardening...living in your new home asap!! ((Hugs))
DeleteHugs to you as well. I'm drinking ginger tea tonight. Channeling some gz zen!
DeleteI needed some myself..chatted on messenger for quite a while with a friend... That helped
DeleteTell your sister you don't want fresh fym Debby. I would like a few ton of spent mushroom compost for my potting compost for my perennials and shrubs. Look forward to seeing those raised beds.
ReplyDeleteNo. It won't be fresh. They have a large pile of rotted stuff set outside of the barn, along the side.
DeleteDr. Oz, what is the orange idiot thinking. I guess if you believe crap that is on fox you are in with him big time.. whatever the dumbest ever president does, it will affect us here in Canada. I just turn off the news if the orange one’s name is mentioned. I mostly watch youtube and have started to walk around Costco for a looky see and some exercise. It is only 10 minutes away and gets me out of the house for a while. I think you are doing exactly the right thing, be thrifty and try not to worry and he will hopefully be gone in four years . Gigi
ReplyDeleteI really can't watch the news yet. I just can't. That is when I clean my kitchen from supper.
DeleteWhen four of us girls sailed from Honolulu to Seattle several years ago, a lady showed up at the boat just before we left with a sushi kit and it was so much fun to make sushi when we caught tuna. Gigi
ReplyDeleteI don't have an Asian store nearby, so I will probably not do something that scrumptious. But I have seen recipes using crab meat which will be something that I do have access to.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI sat for two hours after work yesterday poring over that catalog (and some others from last year) with a notebook and pen, planning the garden. Like you, I'm concerned about food prices next year and would like to build at least one extra raised bed. And cow manure would be a GREAT Christmas gift!
ReplyDeletePlanning a garden is a very good distraction.
As for Dr. Oz? I don't even care anymore. Things are beyond absurd. Elect a clown, expect a circus.
Someone posted that last night. I said if this time around is any thing like the last time around, we will discover a steady stream of clowns coming out of that clown car. Old clowns will be fired, and replacement clowns brought in. We'll see.
DeleteI have a plastic sushi maker, and have used it to my great delight! My distractions are helping me wean myself off of social media: reading more books (I have 5 going), cooking fun new recipes, being outside as much as possible, and hanging with my girlfriends. So good for my soul. The news makes my soul rot and I won't volunteer my soul for that anymore.
ReplyDeleteMy kit contains that 'sushi bazooka'. The videos I watched when I was collecting recipes didn't really use that. Just the bamboo rolling mats. So. I did watch a video specifically for that. I will experiment with both.
DeleteI'm reading more books, mostly cozy mysteries, my favorite genre.
ReplyDeleteI have begun watching a lot of crime shows. My husband came in from hunting and caught one on in the livingroom while supper was in the oven. He said, "I don't know why you watch that stuff." I said, "Because the news is too scary."
DeleteYes, I could have added crime shows to my distractions. I've been watching them for years. For some reason a true crime show is less frightening than the news. Probably because we're usually removed from the crime, unless it's someone you know. And the psychology of crime has always fascinated me.
DeleteWhat I like about them is studying the 'cast of characters', and deciding who's the psychopath. I'm surprisingly good at it, and it makes me feel that if I come up against a psychopath in real life, I'll be able to pick him/her out.
DeleteI don’t have good feeling about Walmart. I feel like my soul is being sucked out of me the moment that I walk in there. So I don’t unless it is absolutely necessary. I don’t love th either evil empire either, but I do use it.
ReplyDeleteWe have to use Walmart whether we like it or not. We use Straight Talk for our cell service, and they only sell the cards at Walmart. Your evil empire comment gave me a giggle. That's what I call them too. May the force be with you!
DeleteWe call the Walmart that closed all our small town stores when they came into town our "Evil Giant".
DeleteNearly 30 years ago, I started my personal boycott of Walmart because I could see they were driving all the little mom and pop stores out of business and replacing them with hulking boxes on the outskirts of town where no service or knowledge of their product exists. I still abide by this boycott but I'm a hypocrite now for doing so since I shop regularly on Amazon and it is even worse. I guess the only difference is their even larger hulking boxes they call distribution hubs, are not on the outskirts of my town. Mom and pop stores selling retail goods are nearly extinct. All that is left are service related stores.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that complaint too, and I believe there is truth to it. The thing about our area, though...before there was a walmart, the mom and pop stores were already dead. Our mall had closed. Our downtown was shuttered. There was no where to shop.
DeleteThe other day, I was at a store, and I heard a woman complaining. She had recently moved here from Pittsburgh area and there was no place to shop for women's clothes. (Obviously, she didn't want to hear about Goodwill.)
I try to avoid Walmart as much as possible because I do not like the way they treat their employees. Those people work so hard and get so little support for their efforts. I have read several articles from former employees as to how all the company thinks about is the bottom line with no regards to job retention, benefits or fair treatment.
ReplyDeleteAt our Walmart, they have 'greeters'. A more forbidding group of people you have never seen. They don't talk. They stand with their hands behind their back and look at you stone faced. One time, the greeter greeted us with a smile and said, "Welcome to Walmart!" It was so unexpected that I stopped and said, "You know, you're the first greeter that has ever actually greeted me. I like that." His reply knocked me back. He had just gotten his review and one of the comments made was that he is too friendly with customers. They felt it would make customers uncomfortable! Made me laugh. Turns out the real reason he is there is so that if a customer is identified by the cameras as stealing during self checkout, he can follow up/delay them until store security gets there. He told them that he wasn't paid security wages, so he wasn't doing security work.
DeleteYeah. He still works there. He doesn't greet very often though.
I don't think I've found a good distraction yet. I surely do need some.
ReplyDeleteI should adopt Pixie's deep cleaning distraction. Although I (cue the fanfare) did clean the mudroom for this winter.
DeleteI'm impressed.
DeleteMy distraction right now? Deep cleaning and going through things to get rid of stuff. I packed up a box of books and clothes and for my other grandson and I'll take them over there in the next week. I also included a small quilt for him, poor bugger smashed his two front teeth last week. Then there will be Christmas baking and work. Then I have a new quilt to make for Jack. Hopefully that will get me through January and February.
ReplyDeleteI would love so new manure and I also know that my dogs would only roll around in it, requiring endless baths.
LOL. I had a 'holy roller' dog too. Dear heavens.
DeleteGood luck with the sushi maker, Debby. I don't like the raw fish ones but I've always liked the spring roll types with fresh veggies. You will have to take photos for us.
ReplyDeleteWith the holidays to plan for, I have enough distractions for now. I imagine January will be awful, though. Maybe a new project...
I have to tell you, Ellen. I am so grateful for the comfort of small pleasures right now. I will surely be relying even more on these things after the first of the year.
DeleteMy daughter got seed catalogs 2 weeks ago and she's going trough the. She always likes to grow something diffeent.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to get them, and do some planning of my own!
DeleteJeanie here (not sure why I am logged in EVERYWHERE else but not on your page).
ReplyDeleteI am still working full time, my job is about 125% distraction needed.
Our sushi maker is a Sushi Bazooka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxpsHt87xhI
Hours of fun.
Oh, Jeanie, I couldn't tell you! Interestingly enough, I no longer need to log in twice to comment on my own blog. So...that's cool. For me. Still sucks for you.
DeleteYep. Exact same bazooka I got! I made my pickled ginger today. I couldn't resist trying a piece, even though it isn't quite 'aged'. It was great. I'm really pleased!!!
Maybe order 100 of those little button magnets (about $10). They would do the same thing!
ReplyDeleteJean
I wonder if they would work. I see a 25 pack. Hmmmm....I need to stop into a local hobby shop.
DeleteI read 4-6 raised beds and I thought... how many people are you planning to have sleep over in your new house?? and why "raised" beds - is that an american things? and really, beds from untreated lumber?.. and how do beds make a person self-sufficient? .. - my brain was working very hard until I read seed catalogue ! Need sleep clearly... and best not try to do the guardian's cryptic crosswork tonight! Thanks for the distractions, I love the idea of the magnet game. Just got a lot of second hand "sylvanian families" figures as advent calender fillers, and about to start the search for presents...
ReplyDeleteCat from Paris.
LOL. With two bedrooms, I can tell you for a fact that we don't have room for 4=6 raised beds in the house. You gave me a good laugh.
DeleteI had to look up sylvanian families. That is an unfamiliar one to me. I love that you make advent calendars. Too late for this year, but I will look it up with an eye to next year. Another distraction! Thanks Cat!
PS: My son proposed to his now-wife at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I cannot believe that it has been nearly 12 years ago!
My distraction (Haven't watch any news or news channels either) is either Christmas movies or true crime. I tell my husband I am watching those for pointers. I have been reading a lot more, too.
ReplyDeleteI have got a quarter beef coming in January and I am trying to pick up a lot of chicken when I go to the store and am freezing it in small portions. Someone reminded me that chicken processing is a horrible job and mostly done by immigrant labor. I figure the price will go sky high. We are also trying to figure any major purchases we will need in the next few years and get them ordered/paid for by the end of December.
The appointees? Each one makes me sick to my stomach.
I have been skipping the news. Yes. Actually, in my mind it is a kimbap maker, but what's in a name? I've found a couple simple recipes to try. I may never get past 'simple', but it will be a fun distraction. When I lived in Seoul, kimbap was a common street food.
DeleteLucky you, a ready source of aged cow manure. The first time I bought it (bagged), I didn't realize cow manure was manure and I asked for man-your. The kid at the feed store thought I was nuts.
ReplyDelete...AND RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD!!!!! My sister has a four wheel drive tractor with a front loader. They can drive to their barn without getting stuck.
DeleteA sushi machine? Really? I want a video! Re the orange shitgibbon's cabinet picks, I firmly believe that each and every one is a resounding "F**k You" to the American people, I can see no other reasoning than that for them.
ReplyDeleteHis pick for the department of Education was eye popping. The least qualified will be running the show. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.
DeleteI would have to echo Jim's comment, and yours, "really?"
ReplyDeleteYeah. Really. I've watched some videos. My first attempt with be Kappa Maki. Looks simple enough that even an orange shit gibbon could get it done.
DeleteSushi maker??? Wow. I hope you have fun with it!
ReplyDeleteThe cabinet appointments read like a bad comedians joke. I can't even.
Love your gift requests! I asked for 10 tons of gravel one year. Best gift ever.
And yes, I LOVE Best Christmas Pageant Ever! We will probably watch it tomorrow night. It's an annual ritual.
A sushi maker translates to a couple of bamboo mats when you get right down to it. There's a rice spoon, chopsticks, chopstick holders, two special knives, a tool to cut the vegetables into strips, a wasabi spreader and a 'bazooka', but it really does look like all you really need is those mats and a rice spoon. A lot of unnecessaries, but most of it is bamboo. But we will see.
DeleteEnjoy your movie. I don't know that I've ever seen it, although the book made me laugh until I cried. I may see if I can talk my husband into going to see a movie with me.