It's a cold, dreary, and wet day, so I'm guessing Fall must be here, but I won't be wasting time mourning the end of Summer... because an all new ALL FOOD & EATING Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Food Talk! I fell down another rabbit hole on the internet... this time with a podcast called Lunchbox Envy. The episodes are like potato chips in that you can't watch just one. There's also a clips channel with short videos that have interesting food facts...

Food is always interesting because it reflects the culture and environment of the people eating it. But there's something to be said about discussing interesting things about the food you eatmin your own culture.

   
• Plum Sweet! I could watch bats eating all day long...

Bats are adorable in all the right ways. But bats eating is next level.

   
• Taters! I've had all these dishes because I love potatoes so much, and have tried well over 100 recipes for them...

I'm a little sad that the Japanese croquet included meat, because when I was traveling to Japan, the way they make them without meat is amazing because of how they're seasoned. The most interesting option here is the Turkish baked potato, which I had without the hot dog. It seems a weird combination of toppings, but it really works... and I need to make one soon, because I haven't had it in at least a decade. And I can make it with a veggie dog!

   
• We'll Be Having Eggs! Chef José Andrés broke the internet when he unveiled his secret for an amazing omelette in less than a minute (on Rogan, of all places). It's just and egg with mayonnaise mixed in. I had one this morning and can verify that it is indeed very delicious and very easy to make...

I have been buying microwaveable frozen omelettes because I don't eat a lot of eggs any more, and don't want them expiring. I am very curious to know if the José Andrés omelettes can be frozen and still taste good, because that would be a lot cheaper.

   
• Sliced! Slicing bread is not an overwhelming task. You pull out a serrated knife and you start sawing it. But when you make a lot of bread, a tool like this looks pretty fantastic, just because it looks like it makes perfectly even slices...

But the problem with stuff like this? You then have to clean it. Which doesn't look fun at all.

   
• Food Map! D gets me Southern Italy, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, a good chunk of Greece, Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Turkey, a nice chunk of the Middle East, the Philippines, and more? Sign me up...

I would badly miss Mexican and African cuisine... and I'd be missing most of the European dishes I wouldn't get... but, yeah, D... second choice G. They have the best variety of what I most love to eat.

   
• UtiliBread! I have a sourdough starter that I use for absolutely everything bread-related. From loaves to pizza crust to hamburger buns... it's good for anything I could want. Then I found this interesting no-knead dough that I very much want to try sometime...

Because you can never have too much bread!

   
• Umami Whammy! It's bizarre to me how MSG is in so many foods, yet people treat it like some kind of toxic chemical or something (seriously, look at the ingredients on a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and get back to me). The misinformation campaign started as a way of discrediting foreign foods (MSG is a staple of Asian cooking), and became urban legend so people think it causes headaches or whatever. And yet most people are eating it without knowing and don't seem to complain? Well, I love the stuff. It only takes a small amount, and I put it in many foods that I make (it makes potato salad and vegetarian meat-substitutes sing). This guy does a test which compares common foods with and without MSG, and it's a pretty great video which mirrors my experience...

So... if you want to add some mouthwatering appeal to your cooking and ignore the misinformation that plagues it, try just a small amount of MSG and find out if it makes a difference to you.

   
• Cost of Living? Can anybody tell me to get those cheaper groceries that were promised on "Day One?" Because I just paid an astronomical sum for a very small amount of groceries. The only thing that seems to be down in price are eggs (which makes sense because the chicken population is being restored after so many were killed because of the Avian flu). Alas, I don't eat many eggs... so that means I'm paying more for everything I'm buying. Price indexes say we're paying 29% more than 2020, but that actually seems an understatement, because the size of products is decreasing as prices are increasing. And the prices are only going to get worse... likely far worse... because tariffs, deportations of agriculture workers, and climate change are driving up prices with no end in sight. Just like economists said would happen before the election. I don't understand how somebody who prioritizes personal gain and funneling money to his wealthy corporate donors while knowing nothing about how tariffs work was ever going to be a solution to high prices. The guy bankrupted a casino... A CASINO! And where is all that tariff money going? Tax breaks for billionaires, I'm guessing.

   
I should probably go out and start pulling all my dying plants for compost, but it's not at all pleasant outside so I guess I'm holding off on that. Instead I think I'll cook something because I'm hungry all of a sudden.

If you're fascinated by my adventures with growing tiny tomatoes... AND WHY WOULDN'T YOU BE?... you'll be sad to know that my tomato yields have been dropping quickly. There's still a good-sized tomato & feta salad left on the vine, but they're not ripening evenly. So I only get a small handful at a time.

Which means my salads can no longer be main courses. All I've left are side salads...

Still incredibly delicious though. It will be very hard to go back to store-bought after having home-grown, which can't even begin to compare.

I guess we'll all have to wait and see if anything else will ripen enough to be useable. Fingers crossed.

This past Saturday I finally got around to watching the second season opener of Peacemaker. It was even more insane than I had hoped. But first... tomatoes.

I honestly don't understand how my two small tomato plants keep pumping out so many 'maters. Even more unbelievable is that I am using no pesticides, have no netting or fencing, and pretty much ignore them... yet bugs and birds aren't bothering them at all.

Just before I started up Peacemaker I picked enough ripe ones to make another tomato salad with feta cheese and Mediterranean herbs. Unbelievably good...

I think I have at least one salad left in my plants once they ripen. Maybe two. I can't imagine how many I'll end up next year if I triple the number of plants. Hopefully enough for two salads a week instead of one every-other-week. Plus extra for burgers and spinach wraps and such. Dinner was delicious. Except I was embarrassed to include my garlic bread in the photo because it was made from hotdog buns.

And so... on Sunday I made a loaf of sourdough. Then I had to transfer my starter to a bowl so I could wash out the container I keep her in. Always a mess. And, if you've ever mixed flour and water, then you know it becomes glue that takes some effort to clean...

As for Peacemaker... it's as demented, crazy, and entertaining as I expected. Maybe more so. Suffice to say that if you can appreciate a good sex orgy (and are old enough to see such things), then this is the show for you.

Many fans wondered if the first season of the show was going to be canon in the new James Gunn DC Universe of movies. Turns out that, yes, it is. With one exception. The ending. In the original series, Peacemaker sees the Justice League arrive after the fighting is over. Superman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman (I'm guessing that Cyborg and Batman were off-limits for some reason). It's a hilarious bit that I won't spoil here, but I can tell you it's the most memorable thing to come out of Zack Snyder's dark slog of a DC Universe.

So... in the second season recap, Gunn fixes it. Now it's the Justice Gang which shows up... Mr. Terrific, Superman, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and even Supergirl...

That's pretty great.

And now we wait for the Gunn DCU version of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, Cyborg, and The Flash. Hopefully all comic bookey fun like Superman (2025) is.

Still recovering from a trip to the coast and back yesterday, but that's no excuse... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Super, Man! I loved pretty much every frame of Superman. Thank you, James Gunn for giving us a fantastic spectacle of a comic book movie that has me excited for new DC films. The one thing I don't get is how he could get everything so right with all the characters and the story... but saddle us with one of the most insanely weird takes on Jimmy Olson I've ever seen. I guess no movie is perfect... but damn. So close. And is it wrong that the reason I'm most looking forward to the Supergirl film is to see more Krypto?

And, oh yeah, I will be *very* upset if we don't get a Mr. Terrific series on HBO or HBO Max or whatever. NOT "The Terrifics"... I'm so done with "Team Arrow" and "Team Flash" and "Team Supergirl" and "Team Whatever" series... just Mr. Terrific. Maybe with an occasional guest star. But anyway... I'll put up a post with my full comments when I've had a chance to watch it again.

   
• Have it Our Way! Remember when Burger King actually let you "have it your way" instead of just saying you can "have it your way" but not really? BECAUSE MY WAY IS WITH EXTRA MAYO... AND YOUR NEW APP DOESN'T ALLOW THAT. You either get "regular" or nothing...

And notice how you can't see the ingredient you're altering. I can only guess that some bean-counting dumbass at corporate thinks that not allowing somebody to put an extra 2¢ worth of mayo on their fucking $8.19 Impossible Whopper is a good financial move. Well, it's making me not want to eat at your restaurant any more, so congratulations. I wonder if this dipshit is the same one in charge at Chipotle who thought raising prices and lowering portions at the same time would make their customers happy? What's so fucking stupid here is that I just asked for two packets of free mayo so I could add it to my burger myself, which most certainly costs more than just adding it from the giant mayo bucket. And speaking of this new app... did anybody at BK beta test it? I am assuming this third option is Coke Zero because the one before it is Diet Coke and there's 0 calories in it... but who the fuck knows?

There's absolutely no way to confirm it. And so I had to order for pick-up instead of drive-thru because I knew they'd hand me a cup and I could fill it with the correct Coke myself. Good Lord. Pathetic. This is the whole Sonos app disaster all over. Do these fucking companies ever learn?

   
• Via Variety: PETA Urges Nintendo to Remove ‘Mario Kart World’ Cow’s Nose Ring: ‘It’s-a Mean!’ To think there was a time I actually supported the dumbasses at PETA. What a fucking joke.With each new idiotic act, they make me want to go out and buy a steak...

And since I'm a vegetarian, that tells you about all you need to know.

   
• Pop Quiz, Hotshot! Take a guess...

And now I want Taco Bell. Which is about the only fast food restaurant left to me after this stupid Burger King fiasco.

   
• Via People: Plus Size Park Hoppers' Say Brutal Backlash Over Their Experiences at Disney Theme Parks Won't Stop Them. What is it with people? Just leave them alone. One of the more difficult things I witnessed at a Disney Parks was a couple who stood in line for over an hour to ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Car Ride. But when they got to the front of the line, the woman couldn't fit in the car. She asked if they could ride-swap so she could ride in a row by herself then her boyfriend could ride the next time, but they wouldn't let her because of the way the seats are built. — First of all, you'd think that Disney would have one row in just one car that is built for a larger person. And second of all, if the woman could have only visited a website which would have told her if she could fit, then she wouldn't have wasted an hour of her life for nothing and have to leave embarrassed and upset. — You'd think that assholes who make fun of these ladies or insult them would instead support them sharing this information, because you just know that they're in line complaining because they have to wait for larger people who are trying to see if they fit into the ride car.

   
• More Lies! As if we needed yet another video to point out how full of crap Ben Shapiro is. But here you go...

What a lying little shit stain. I have to wonder if he has ever been anything except disingenuous with his audience. This take-down is beautifully done. Elegantly pointing out that all Shapiro does... all he ever does... is lie.

   
• Via PBS: South Carolina lawmaker in jail on child sex abuse material charges resigns from office. Damn. These drag quee— WHAT? Yet ANOTHER anti-LGBTQ Republican asshole caught assaulting children? You know what... I'm beginning to think that drag queens aren't quite the threat that anti-LGBTQ Republicans say they are! They're just a convenient scapegoat!

   
And there you have it. I'm all out of bullets this fine Sunday.

Nothing I can dream up with for dinner tonight can compare with the salad I had last night.

I think my plants have enough tomatoes for one last salad in a couple weeks. I am already looking forward to it, because it doesn't get much better than this...

I'd buy some cherry tomatoes at the grocery store, but they're never the same.

UPDATE: I ended up having Eggo waffles.

I'm way too tired to blog, but here I am again... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Memories Do Pass. It seems so strange that two more musicians from my youth have passed... namely Ozzy Osbourne and Chuck Mangione...

As if that weren't enough, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, most known for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show also died in a tragic drowning accident. I prepared for getting to the point where all the people from my memories were going to start dying, but I wasn't prepared for how quickly they're passing. Every month a couple more seem to leave us, and I can't help but wonder how many more will go before I do.

   
• McMissing McPies! I don't give a shit how "unhealthy" McDonald's fried pies were... I want them back. Who eats at McDonald's to be healthy?

Of course McDonald's is so fucking expensive now that I can't really afford to eat there any more, so it's not like it matters. Though I might be willing to take out a second mortgage if it meant I could have a fried McPie again.

   
• Perfect 'Maters! When I had to transfer my tomato plants outside, I was certain that they would be pecked at by birds and spoiled by bugs. But no....

Am I just phenomenally lucky? Because the biggest problem I have is to wash off the water spots. They tomatoes themselves are beautiful.

   
• Ares! The original Tron is one of my favorite films of all time. The sequel was okay but hardly in the same league. About all I could say was that the special effects were darn good. And now another sequel has landed and... well... the special effects look darn good...

It looks far removed from the initial concept, though the idea of computer constructs from the digital world being able to make their way into our world was where the sequel ended up, so here we are. If nothing else, I hope it's at least entertaining.

   
• Mickey Kicked the Bucket? ZOMFG! WHEN DID MICKEY MOUSE DIE?!??

When I was at the Walt Disney World Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party last year, I saw that there are people lining up to buy dozens of the special event popcorn buckets and sipper cups. That's some big business on eBay, apparently.

   
• Leaving Las Vegas! Pre-pandemic, I had several work trips to Las Vegas for the charity I volunteered with. But over the years there were fewer, because we were finding the number of conventions wanting to hold events in Vegas were fewer. This video offers some interesting insight into the many problems which make Sin City a less-desirable vacation destination...

#1 on my list? Fucking "resort fees." I personally avoid Vegas for this one reason. I hate being lied to about the rate I'm paying. Hotels country-wide should be forced to list the TOTAL PRICE YOU WILL BE CHARGED at the time you book your lodging. And those absurd fucking "Restaurant Fees" and "CNF Fees" are #2 on my list.

   
• Republican Speaker of the House Just Loooooooves Pedophiles! Well this should shock absolutely nobody... "Speaker Mike Johnson said he would send lawmakers home early for their summer recess in order to head off Democratic demands for votes on calling for the release of files from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein." Gotta protect pedophiles at all costs, I guess. There must be some huge donors and very important politicians on that list. Why else would you protect pedophiles?

And now we just wait for Ghislaine Maxwell to give an interview with the FBI where she says that no Republicans were on the list, names a few token Democrats, then gets mysteriously pardoned by the President of the United States for finally "telling the truth to the American people." Because keep in mind that only the President can pardon her crimes of supplying underage girls to Epstein Island.

   
And on that depressing note, off I go to try and get some sleep before facing the horrors on a new news day.

I'm not saying that bland-looking food is bland-tasting food, but it seems as though that should be true.

I thought of this as I was putting some nachos into the oven last week. Chips and cheese? Monochromatic bland-looking. Boring. But with tomatoes, jalapeños, purple onion, and olives on top? Well...

Pretty.

Then last night I was going to have one of my favorite treats: toasted naan with hummus and feta. Something that's far from bland-tasting, but it looks incredibly bland. So I diced up some tomatoes and onions and mixed with some olive oil and Mediterranean herbs to make it look better...

Much better.

And tastier too.

Life is too short for boring-looking food.

Ever since my life-changing tomato salad yesterday, I keep looking out my back window at my plants.

And then in my head I start screaming "HURRY UP! HURRRRRRYYYY!!!"

Because they're just out there teasing me with their unripe selves...

Hopefully on Sunday there will be enough.

If not, I guess I'll go out and scream at them in person.

I told the story of my cherry tomato plants in a previous entry.

Long story short, I decided to try growing tomatoes in my Aerogarden (which I've only used for herbs). Alas, the plants grew into the grow lights, burning them. I ended up planting them outside and it didn't go well because they weren't used to the heat. I thought they were goners.

But then they rallied! I got a couple tomatoes off them, then ignored the plants.

Yesterday I noticed that I had a lot tomatoes on them and made a note to harvest them today. There's a baked tomato and feta dish I like, and I thought I'd smear it on toast for dinner.

I planted them too far apart because I didn't want them growing too close together. Turns out I planted too far apart. And I should have bought a wire cage to help support their weight.

Regardless, they turned out beautiful. I thought that bugs and birds would have ate them, but nope!

And I couldn't do it.

I couldn't cook my harvest. The tomatoes were SO beautiful and SO tasty that I decided to make a fresh tomato feta salad instead (tossed with EVOO, Mediterranean herbs, red pepper flakes, and a little minced garlic, then topped with a balsamic glaze)...

Cannot possible enunciate how phenomenally delicious this was.

Next year I'll be planting at least ten plants... probably more... because I could eat like this all Summer and still want more. Store bought tomatoes cannot compare.

Or maybe I need a greenhouse so I can eat like this all year long?

Somebody buy me a greenhouse.

Happy Juneteenth! It still blows my mind that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863, but the last of the enslaved population in the USA wasn't freed until June 19, 1865... over two years later. And, from what I can tell, there were no consequences. Zero

Today I harvested some tomatoes from my garden. Well, I harvested some cherry tomatoes from my garden...

My plants started out in my Aerogarden inside. But even at maximum extension, the plants grew into the lights, burning them...

And I got tired of cleaning up after them. So I transplanted them outside...

They did not do well. Indoors it's air conditioned. Outdoors it's unrelenting heat. But eventually they kinda(?) adapted? Meaning that they didn't die and gave me tomatoes. And this weekend I'll probably have seven more. Maybe it's enough for a salad!

I hired a landscaper to change some plants around and plant more in new places to fill out my back yard.

Everything is doing well except some little purple flowering things that are just getting fried. I'm told that eventually they should snap out of it, so here's hoping...

There's quite a bit of variety in all the plants, and they're all pretty great. Though this guy is so wildly different that I think it may be my favorite...

I'm betting it looks incredible when all those flowers start popping open!