Primrose vs Harrier - Troll Challenges

Originally posted by Saffo7
better now, after a discussion we managed to find a balance. it's not the idea of ​​working to live, work must be a means to be able to live.
they are not my job and therefore should not take up much of my time.
when it happens it destabilizes me and I become gloomy, dissatisfied.

I've been in a very similar situation last year, and made the same decision as you.

I also decided to compromise earlier this year when I was asked to switch from part time to full time. I always like to say that time is a commodity that simply cannot be bought with money.

Balance is the key - not too little, not too much.

Originally posted by Saffo7
the Bolognese ragù has sautéed celery, carrots, onions, minced beef and tomato sauce.
At home I prepare a ragù with only sautéed onions, ground whatever I have and tomato sauce, I adjust the acidity of the sauce only after a couple of hours of slow cooking.
home cooking is always good.

That's interesting, I always thought that celery and carrots were among the less authentic things in Bolognese ragù. Nice to see that this is not necessarily the case, but I always appreciated these two ingredients in my Bolognese sauce either way.

And yes, Primrose and I are both big fans of home cooking in general too, which is why we like to do all those cooking series here. This still leaves me with the challenge of coming up with a good Eastern European dish tomorrow...

I have been informed that my brother, who I believe is still for the most part a vegetarian, has made carbonara with tofu instead of ham the other day. I just wanted to point that out because we had a discussion about this dish recently. On to yesterday's Surprise Menu, Eastern European style:

I had to think about this one for a while. Beef Stroganoff came to mind, maybe Bigos, or Djuvec... but those all take a little longer to prepare, I believe, and I didn't feel like doing long dinner preparations after coming home from work yesterday. I intended to settle for Shashlik, which may technically be Central Asian in origin, though it is popular in Russia and I even found a Soviet-style recipe online. This one, however, also requires some marinating, and I figured buying ready-made shahlik skewers would go against the spirit of the challenge.

I went for Kotleti, which were also the inspiration for my Russian burgers, but this time, I wanted to make them out of chicken, and as a proper main course.

Time to get the mincer again, and add 400-500 g of chicken, an egg, around eight tablespoons of breadcrumbs soaked in milk, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, half an onion, and some salt and pepper.

They almost came out like dough... so I just slapped them on like pancakes.

The kotleti still turned out all right. Not sure if they are supposed to be this big, though, they are about the size of burger patties once again. I guess I cooked what I know.

Anyway, here they are served with mashed potatoes, peas and carrots.

And honestly, they were pretty good.

Lazy cow fish soup

I went lazy cow today. I already had prepared and frozen down this Hungarian fish soup about two weeks ago. It´s made of own grown tomatoes, own grown sweet pepper, own grown chilis and two different kinds of fish.

So, all I had to do was defreezing the soup and warming it up. But to be honest: Needed some space in the freezer and after swimming I was just too lazy to cook.

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Lazy cow fish soup

I went lazy cow today. I already had prepared and frozen down this Hungarian fish soup about two weeks ago. It´s made of own grown tomatoes, own grown sweet pepper, own grown chilis and two different kinds of fish.

So, all I had to do was defreezing the soup and warming it up. But to be honest: Needed some space in the freezer and after swimming I was just too lazy to cook.
Well, as I said, that was your advantage when we rolled "Eastern European" - you could just pick some of the standard stuff you know from home.

But now that we have both of our menus out of the way, let's spin again, to see what we will be making next week:

Spoiler

Prim was lucky - it stopped just short of "Banhauser".

A lot of things you can do with the South Asian theme, which is defined as anything east of the Middle East region and south of China. The islands between Asia and Australia also count.

Actually, I intended to make a few burgers based on this region soon... but they will have to be their separate entries.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

In Fall 2011, Harrier had to do a presentation on Bram Stoker's Dracula at university. For the most part, it went well, except...

1) Harrier almost accidentally once said the name of an ex-girlfriend instead of Dracula
2) Harrier kept calling Van Helsing "Van Halen" instead
3) Harrier misspelled "stake" as "steak" on a PowerPoint slide

Solution:

We are starting to enter the final stretch - only two more weeks, and we should be done. Hopefully, we will have a badge and a certificate to collect at that point.

It is quite fun, but I am longing to put it into the books, and get my Sunday afternoons back again. Especially on days like this, where the weather makes you want to spend a lazy day at home with a nice cup of hot cocoa or something.

Anyway, today was about learning techniques to bring people ashore. Unconscious people, that is. One technique we learned was for waters that are still deep when you arrive at the end, like a swimming pool, but there may be some natural bodies of waters with similar characteristics. You would rest the head of the rescued person on your shoulder, put their hands on the edge of the pool, and then climb out and give them a good pull out of there.

The other technique was for flat waters at the point where they are exited, like on a beach. You would pull the rescued person for as long as you can through the water, then rest them on your knee, grab one arm and one leg, shortly dive down, and lift them out over your shoulders to carry them ashore. Why can't you just pull them out? Because especially on a beach, there may be many sharp objects on the ground that could hurt them.

Especially the second technique looked quite complicated at first, but it wasn't so bad once you got busy. There is no need for a specific exam for that, we just needed to demonstrate that we learned to do it.

Next week, we should finally face our examination for the escaping moves out of strangleholds, which could be considered the main part of this course. We will also do our combined practical exercise. After that, the biggest part will be the actual theoretical exam at the end, which will be a standardized test.

Theoretical part

[ ] Passing a nationally standardized quiz about the following subjects: Respiration and blood circulation, hazards in and around water, assistance in case of bathing-, boating-, and ice-related accidents, avoiding strangleholds, assistance in case of injuries and drowning as well as heat exhaustion and cold injuries, and the tasks and activities of the DLRG.

Practical part

[DONE] Swimming 200 meters in less than 10 minutes, including 100 meters of leg whip kick back swimming without using the arms

[DONE] Swimming 100 meters in full clothing in less than 4 minutes, with subsequent unclothing inside the water

[DONE] Performing three different jumps from a height of 1 meter

[DONE] 15 meters of distance diving

[DONE] 50 meters of transport swimming - pushing or pulling

[DONE] Diving from the surface of the water twice - once heads first and once feet first - retrieving two 5 kg diving rings from the bottom of a 2-3 meters deep pool within 3 minutes

[practised] Displaying abilities to avoid strangleholds and escaping neck chokeholds from behind

[DONE] 50 meters of transport swimming with an embracing technique (for people who may try to resist the rescuing)

[DONE] Demonstrating the ability to bring people ashore

[ ] Displaying the ability to perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for 3 minutes

[ ] A combined exercise involving the following steps without any breaks in this order: A 20 meter swimming approach, diving to retrieve a 5 kg diving ring halfway through, then dropping the ring and continuing the approach, followed by carrying a partner for 20 meters

Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls like their video gaming sessions together, but we had been friends for about a year before we ever got into it. Which game was the "gateway drug" that made Primrose get her own Steam account?

1) The Sims
2) RollerCoaster Tycoon
3) Worms Armageddon

Days are getting shorter, while my runs are getting longer. I had to go a little earlier this time in order to squeeze my run in before the darkness started to set in - the picture above was taking at around the halfway point.

We are now in the final week of the program, and we got done with the toughest run today. Only one standard session is left on Thursday. I decided to schedule it for that day instead of Wednesday because I plan to show up at a nearby swimming club that evening to see what they are up to.

There will likely be no 5K Race on Saturday, as I may be facing some physically demanding challenges in the lifeguard course on Sunday, so I don't want to show up exhausted from the previous day. Instead, I will probably do another standard workout on Saturday to keep my progress, and try to schedule either a race or a run to the Abbey some time next week.

Originally posted by Harrier88
The Trolls like their video gaming sessions together, but we had been friends for about a year before we ever got into it. Which game was the "gateway drug" that made Primrose get her own Steam account?

1) The Sims
2) RollerCoaster Tycoon
3) Worms Armageddon

Worms!

.

Yes, I was just doing a quick and dirty web search for beginner's running workout plans. The Runner's World article wasn't the first thing that came up, but it came with this nice chart, which I thought was much more convenient than purely text-based schedules, so I went for it. I also liked that it only took six weeks, rather than the more common eight weeks.

The goal was to find a proper running plan with progressive goals, because while I had been running before, I hadn't done it consistently. I would have been able to start a little further in, I expect, but I thought it's much better to start out too small than to start out too big, and I wanted to make sure that I can finish whatever I pick. I also had to keep my daily schedule in mind, which contains other exercise activities and a physical labor job.

I am quite happy with this running plan, there has never been a day where I felt too exhausted, and yet I can clearly feel that I have made progress, and I am feeling fitter in general already.

Primrose and I may not be quite marathon-ready yet, but I think we can up the ante a little next year.

A lot of cooking to get out of the way, but let's start with this week's Surprise Menu (motto: South Asian), which I prepared last Tuesday.

When I am asked about my favorite dishes, Nasi Goreng typically ranks up highly, which is one of the national dishes of Indonesia. I have rarely had it at a restaurant, but it remains a popular dish for when I am visiting my mother on Saturday evenings. As for myself, I had never made this dish before, but this is about to change.

The good thing is, if you have a seasoning mix ready and made some other preparations beforehand, this is actually a pretty simple dish to prepare - and I came prepared, with cooked rice, cooked chicken and this seasoning mix, containing tumeric, cardamom, coriander, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, ground mustard, nutmeg and allspice.

I started by frying some eggs, which is optional.

Then I cooked onions and garlic...

...some diced bell peppers...

...and then, it would have been wise to add the seasoning mix already. Instead, I added the rice and chicken a little early.

The seasoning had to come later.

Then I would simply add the scrambled eggs from earlier, and some prawns...

...and soon, we are ready to serve.

Not bad for my first ever shot at this meal, which has usually been prepared for me in the past - but I really should have added the seasoning sooner. The end result felt a little "powdery", because the seasoning couldn't merge with the cooking oil, if that makes sense.

Still good, but I would like to do it better next time.

More Troll-cooking. Yesterday, I took a short culinary trip to Senegal and back, for another Africa-inspired version.

There is a classic Senegalese chicken dish called Poulet Yassa, which is featured in that one African cookbook which I have at home, and which I once bought for Primrose too. When I first saw this recipe, I was surprised to see Maggi cubes among the listed ingredients, which seemed quite inauthentic at first glance... but this may not be the case, as it seems like those Maggi cubes are actually very popular in West African cooking. Prim strongly disagrees with that choice, and likes to use some harissa instead to spice up her Poulet Yassa.

In fact, Primrose is a pretty big fan of a good Poulet Yassa - which is why she begged me on Skype not to ruin this dish by turning it into yet another banhauser burger. Well... sorry, Prim.

So those are the chicken patties, I'm sure you don't need to see pictures of my blender for the hundredth time.

For the "marinade", I prepared around 3-4 tablespoons of harissa (whatever was left in the tube), mixed with a teaspoon of chili-garlic powder and a teaspoon of lemon juice, which should take care of the key ingredients. I simply spread the mixture on both sides of the patties.

Later, I added some onions, cut into rings, and cooked them together with the chicken.

There won't be much to building this burger. We simply start with the marinated/seasoned patty...

...add the onions, which also got seasoned along the way by being cooked in the same pan...

...and our Senegal-inspired burger is ready.

Poulet Yassa may be ruined forever - but it was worth it! Those burgers were really good. Maybe some additional veggies could have helped make them even better, but I really liked the spices, and the sautéed onions were a good addition too. A simple concept, but very good in the end. Primrose gladly sticks to the real version. It was another clear case of "but not as a burger!".

This one will rank highly. Will it beat Israel as the best chicken burger on the list? Really hard to tell, I would have to try them side by side... I remember this one having a very good seasoning too, so I think I will give the Israel-inspired burger the edge in the end. Without commenting on current events...

1st Switzerland
2nd Cyprus
3rd Israel
4th Senegal
5th Greece
6th Japan
7th Mongolia
8th China
9th Denmark
10th Korea
11th Spain
12th Germany
13th Russia
14th Madagascar
15th Alsace
16th Italy
17th Texas
18th California
19th Mexico
20th Morocco
21st Brazil
22nd Namibia
23rd Arabia
24th Turkey
25th Australia
26th England
27th France
28th Colombia
29th Cuba
30th Canada
31st Hungary
32nd The Netherlands
33rd Thailand
34th South Africa

This is simply FOOD ABUSE! :facepalm::rage::wtf::f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:
The "poor" poulet yassa! I love it - but NOT in a burger! That´s just food abuse! :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:

Anything that can be eaten on its own can be eaten between slices of bread.
It might not be easy, as in the case of brown rice — but it can be done

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Anything that can be eaten on its own can be eaten between slices of bread.
It might not be easy, as in the case of brown rice — but it can be done

As Bill Cosby liked to put it:

As a Banhauser, I don't even need the bread.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls like their video gaming sessions together, but we had been friends for about a year before we ever got into it. Which game was the "gateway drug" that made Primrose get her own Steam account?

1) The Sims
2) RollerCoaster Tycoon
3) Worms Armageddon

Solution:

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Anything that can be eaten on its own can be eaten between slices of bread.
It might not be easy, as in the case of brown rice — but it can be done

Vorpal, I don´t know who is the bigger Banhauser: YOU or Harrier! :thinking::facepalm::rage::f_ugly:

Surprise Menu South Asia

I was immediately thinking about Indian cuisine! Prepared my meal on Friday. It´s normally fishy Friday, but I didn´t feel like eating fish, so decided to make a vegetarian Friday. Then found this recipe.

Used chickpeas instead of peans and pretty much all sorts of veggies I still have from this years harvest: zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin, still have frozen down tomato sauce, still got some chard, but no more sweet pepper (used pumpkin instead). Still got some Ornamental chili left and some Zimbabwe Bird´s Eye, so made it HOT! And there it is:

Served it with rice. Homer and I, we both liked it. Not bad!

Looks lovely, Prim!

We can spin the wheel for next week's menu now:

We were originally supposed to more or less wrap up the practical part today, but we didn't quite get through everything, so the escaping moves from various strangleholds were only practiced once again.

We did, however, do our combined practical exercise, which is essentially a simulated rescue. You jump into the pool and swim for about 20 meters, dive down to retrieve a 5 kg ring (representing a drowning individual), then carry a partner for 20 more meters (so you just swim back with them). This video gives you an idea, though we did not need to do an escape move before carrying our partner, and we also did not need to pull them ashore afterwards - but that's what we practiced last week, so you also get an idea about that:

Honestly, my first attempt was pretty rubbish, and my examiner plainly told me that we can't let that fly. I was given a few pointers about what went wrong, practiced for a while with someone who already passed his exam, and then did it again, applying what I just learned. This one went a lot better, and I was given my pass. My leg whip kick could still use some improvement - this is a known issue, ever since I learned how to swim. My right leg often simply does what it wants.

One more week, then we are done - with or without a new badge. We will then finally do the exam for the escaping moves that we had practiced since day one (originally on dry land), we will do our CPR exercise, and of course our big theoretical exam. It will be all or nothing... let's come out on top.

Theoretical part

[ ] Passing a nationally standardized quiz about the following subjects: Respiration and blood circulation, hazards in and around water, assistance in case of bathing-, boating-, and ice-related accidents, avoiding strangleholds, assistance in case of injuries and drowning as well as heat exhaustion and cold injuries, and the tasks and activities of the DLRG.

Practical part

[DONE] Swimming 200 meters in less than 10 minutes, including 100 meters of leg whip kick back swimming without using the arms

[DONE] Swimming 100 meters in full clothing in less than 4 minutes, with subsequent unclothing inside the water

[DONE] Performing three different jumps from a height of 1 meter

[DONE] 15 meters of distance diving

[DONE] 50 meters of transport swimming - pushing or pulling

[DONE] Diving from the surface of the water twice - once heads first and once feet first - retrieving two 5 kg diving rings from the bottom of a 2-3 meters deep pool within 3 minutes

[practised] Displaying abilities to avoid strangleholds and escaping neck chokeholds from behind

[DONE] 50 meters of transport swimming with an embracing technique (for people who may try to resist the rescuing)

[DONE] Demonstrating the ability to bring people ashore

[ ] Displaying the ability to perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for 3 minutes

[DONE] A combined exercise involving the following steps without any breaks in this order: A 20 meter swimming approach, diving to retrieve a 5 kg diving ring halfway through, then dropping the ring and continuing the approach, followed by carrying a partner for 20 meters