Poor man's pizza

Hi Natty!  How are you, my love?  I want you to know that I love you with all of my heart.  Perhaps you think of me sometimes.  Please be happy and healthy.  I'm taking it easy today.  No going out, no laborious projects.  I wanted pizza for dinner, so that's how I spent my evening.  It was a poor man's pizza, I'm afraid.  The dough I made myself, the basil I grew myself, the tomato sauce was of average price (when tomatoes are cheap, I can make sauce for cheap but not today), the sausage I made myself.  It's sausage left over from your birthday which I kept in the freezer.  It's a good recipe, and it's halal.  I didn't use Ramly beef, folks: it's always sold out!  It's the cheese that makes my pizza a poor man's pizza: I can't afford mozzarella, so I used sliced cheese.  It doesn't bother me all that much.  It tastes cheesy, and it's pizza.  That's good enough for me.  Alhamdulillah.

Qur'an 20200728

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

23.  That is whereof Allah gives glad tidings to God's servants who believe and do righteous deeds.  Say, "No reward do I ask of you for this except the love of those near of kin."  And if anyone earns any good, We shall give him an increase in good in respect thereof, for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Ready To Appreciate.

The Consultation 42:23

Monday

Hi Natty!  How are you?  Is everything easy and enjoyable for you?  I hope so.  It's a busy Monday here for me.  I did a lot of driving around in the morning.  I paid bills, picked up my Dad's prescription, bought fuses and groceries, and bought my lunch which was takeout rice with fried chicken and lots of gravy.  I also went hunting for burgers, but there's none to be found.  Every place I went to was sold out.  Must be a burger festival in town or something.  I wasn't that busy in the evening, so I made chicken and lentil soup.  The lentils had been soaking for a day, and the bubbles spilled over onto my counter top.  Lentil bubbles have a powerful scent to them.  I wish I had remembered to buy milk, but I had some butter so I hoped that would be milky enough (or buttery enough).  Today I used "budu" (fermented fish sauce, or it could even be anchovy bouillon) to flavor the soup, a local flavor which I am fond to use in my ramen.

I fried up garlic in butter, then added the blended lentils and onion to slow cook.  You have to keep stirring lentil soup, or it will stick to the bottom.  Lentil soup is nice and thick, and I ate it for dinner before I took my shower, because soups heat you up.  And boy, was I sweating.  It was OK.  You usually need to add sourness to lentils, but my bottle of "budu" has tamarinds in it so that was sour enough.  I wish I had used milk though.

Qur'an 20200727

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

15.  Now then for that, call and stand steadfast as you are commanded.  Nor follow their vain desires but say, "I believe in the Book which Allah has sent down, and I am commanded to judge justly between you.  Allah is our Lord and your Lord.  For us our deeds, and for you your deeds.  There is no contention between us and you.  Allah will bring us together, and to God is the final goal."

The Consultation 42:15

Teriyaki chicken

Hi Natty!  How are you, my precious Princess?  I hope you are healthy and having a wonderful time!  Perhaps you are enjoying your back yard this time of year, it must be beautiful and comfortable over there in Vancouver.  I had to do some yard work this evening, but it wasn't my yard.  I had to remove stumps by the roadside.  The heavy-headed hoe couldn't do the job, so I had to use the chainsaw.  Alas I ran out of motor oil, so I have to continue some other time.  Are you hungry?  Dinner was teriyaki chicken on rice.  Teriyaki sauce is so easy, basic teriyaki sauce is just soy sauce and sugar.  You can just use your favorite soy sauce, add sugar to your taste, bottle it then label it "Natty's Teriyaki Sauce".  Of course you can use other sweeteners like honey, syrup etc.  Gummi bears?  No, I've never tried making teriyaki sauce out of gummi bears.  That's an interesting idea, though.  It would probably be kind of sticky.  So dinner was super easy: while the rice was cooking, I marinated the cubed chicken breast in the teriyaki sauce.  I chopped up some garlic and fried it up, then poured in the chicken and marinade.  Don't cook it too much!  You want the chicken tender, right?  Right before the chicken is about to turn white, turn off the heat then cover it.  Let it sit for a bit.  When the rice is ready, pour the stuff over the rice then sprinkle some dried fried onions on top.  Easy peasy!  Restaurant quality!  Sesame seeds would have made it nicer to look at, but I didn't have any.

White gown

Hi Natty!  How are you today?  Are you enjoying the ride on the carousel?  Please take care of your health, OK?  I had a nice day today.  I had to do some labor, but I didn't bitch to myself that much.  I cut the grass by the side of the road leading to the elementary school.  It's actually government property, but the government has never cut that grass.  Ever.  There were some saplings that I chopped off with the metal blade of the weed whacker, but the stumps are still there so I'm going to have to dig them up with a heavy headed hoe.  Yeah, I be da pimp!  No, it's not like that.  It's labor.  I used up the last of the curry pup fixings for dinner.  That stuff sure is handy: I fry up the curry pups after I finish cutting the grass, and while they cool I clean up, then I eat them like one would eat donuts (but they're savory) while I watch TV and wait for the sunset prayer.  After this, I have to do wardrobe with Mary Unknown7.  I also chose some new songs to add to her karaoke set.  It's mostly Lennon Sisters stuff.  The Lennon Sisters primarily sang covers, so if you were to hear Mary sing those songs, you might think of somebody else.  But the Lennon Sisters have a distinct aura which I want Mary to capture.  It's very "milk and cookies".  Or "white gown".  This one is probably the most difficult of the new songs:

And the cat gets a bath

Hi Natty!  How's it going?  Are you feeling good and having a good time?  I hope so.  It's Friday over here, so I had to attend the Friday prayer.  People at the prayer are more spaced apart than before, and everyone has to wear a mask.  In fact, they're going to make it mandatory to wear masks in public places.  I sure hope that it works, and brings the covid cases down to zero.  I'm sure they wouldn't want to provide evidence that masks are merely placebos.  I do agree however that a mask can diffuse a cough or sneeze.  Anyway, Lily and Bro the kittens I found abandoned by my mother's house last Ramadan came with fungus and ear mites.  I have medication for that though, and after a while the infections subsided.  Then I let Bro outside regularly to ready him for the reality of a male cat, and he got back his fungus and ear mites.  But he wasn't the one who got a bath.  The kittens gave my adult cats fungus infections, and Floofy got the worse of it being that she became a surrogate mother and nursed the kittens even though she had no milk.  Yeah, my kitty is awesomely sweet.  But the fur on her chest and legs became dark from the infection, which hasn't gone away despite the medication.  So I gave her a bath.  I don't know about you, but giving a cat a bath is one of the most exhausting chores in life to me.  I thought I could sit and scrub away, but it turned out that I had to constantly chase the cat around the bathroom while stooping over and scrubbing, and my feet are so big I kept on stubbing my toes against the walls and kicking things over.  By the time I was done, I just wanted to curl up and will myself to death.  Since Floofy's chest and legs were the parts I wanted to focus on, I didn't wash the rest of her, figuring that I wouldn't want to get it wet, what with the fungus and all.  No, that's not it.  I just didn't want to do it anymore.



I never would have thought that a baseball cap would go with a cocktail dress, but this one is a perfect match.  And Mary wears it so well.