The LeLUTKA Lilly mesh head 2.5

 Hi Natty!  What's going on?  How's your weekend so far?  I hope you are keeping safe and healthy.  Not much going on here, just the usual.  Except my Mom gave me the day off today, so I had a leisurely morning.  She also gave me a chicken, so I portioned that out.  It's not cat food anymore, the cats have upgraded to rice and fish, so I portioned it out for my own taste: boneless chicken breast, legs and wings skin on, all other skin put aside (usually for artificial bacon bits), liver sliced up, and the rest of the carcass divided into 5 personal serving soup stocks.  So I was itching for noodles and soup for lunch.  I simmered a portion of the soup stock in miso broth, using the chilli bean oil.  I let that stew with basil, green hot chilli peppers and cubed tofu until the time was right, then added some anchovy bouillon (with MSG).  I pulled out the soup stock, peeled off the meat I wanted, then gave the rest to the cats.  I used rice vermicelli for the noodles, and served it piping hot with dried fried onions, hot sauce, artificial bacon bits and salted radish.  The saltiness could have gone overboard, but it didn't: it was just right.  A little bit of honey would have made it perfect, but I forgot.  Getting the saltiness right for noodles in soup takes practice.  My noodles in soup was complex when I wanted simple, but it was a success so alhamdulillah.  Dinner wasn't as successful.  I made a tofu omelet with sautéed sliced chicken liver marinated in tamarind, with fries.   I used the chilli bean oil for the omelet, so it didn't harden very well.  Even my fries didn't harden very well, I don't know what's up with that.  I think I got the debris at the bottom of the batch in my bag of frozen fries.  And I should have used beef liver, not chicken.  I'll have to grade dinner as "strange but edible".

I heard many good things about LeLutka, but I never got around with demoing any of their stuff.  I was just satisfied with doing the best I can with what was in my path.  Even when I had money to spend on a nice mesh head for Mary Unknown7, I went with the Catwa Mejer mesh head because I was impressed with the ads I saw.  It took me a while to get used to it, but I'm getting some awesome snapshots with it now.  Then LeLutka started to give away the Lilly mesh head as a Christmas offer, and that was more than "in my path": that was throwing it in my face, so I had to get one.  The snapshot on top is the LeLutka, and the one below is the Catwa.  I'm really impressed with the Lilly mesh head.  It's both sophisticated and expressive.  I can understand why people love LeLutka products.  To be fair, I took the 2 snapshots above about an hour apart and the light changed, I should have chosen a consistent light but I forgot.  I showed Mary the new Lilly mesh head:

Mary:  That's really nice.

Me:  You like it?  I'm having trouble getting the nose on the Lilly head to be as bulbous as yours.

Mary:  Oh no, that's really incredible.  How much did that cost you?

Me:  Nothing.  It was a free gift.  I guess we can afford to save so you can get a nose job now.

I got glared at for that remark.  So it looks like I have an option, a really good option, for photo shoots now.  I'm sure you folks will be able to tell which head I will be using at that moment.  Incidentally, I have a cat named Lily:

Too darn pretty

 Hm.  At first I didn't get it, Natty.  Then I guessed that you are just too darned pretty that you need somebody to accompany you in order to be left alone.  Looking at those short shorts, of course you're going attract attention.  Thank you for the eye candy, though.  I assume you're not in Canada.  Hornby Island, is it?  Seems nice.  Wah!  I wanna be pretty too!

But I'm not pretty.  I'm a man, and since I don't have a lot of money then people assume that I do labor.  Which is what I did all day today.  But after I take a nap, I'm going to do computer work for the rest of the night which is work that I prefer, so alhamdulillah.

Business as usual

 Hi Natty!  How are you today, my darling?  I hope you are well, and enjoying yourself.  Today is Friday, and it's been an active day for me.  I went to the land office in the morning to pay some taxes for my aunt.  I ate out for lunch.  I had "roti canai" (pronounced "roti chanai") which is India style flat bread.  They use a lot of grease to make this bread and they toss the dough around to get air pockets in, but the grease gets cooked out.  Like all breads, it's awesome when fresh.

Today is Friday, and I had to attend the Friday prayer in the afternoon then hurry back to get the studio up and running for Mary Unknown7's vocal session.  She's usually already there waiting for me.  I did some house cleaning in the evening, and for dinner I made chicken and tofu fried pies.  They was tasty alhamdulillah, but very juicy and oil was sputtering all over my stove top.  Next I'm going to take a nap, then it's wardrobe and inventory time with Mary.  I hope you have a great day!  I love you!

Dark Phoenix

 Natty, that's beautiful!  It's like you're watching the phoenix rise.  What an awesome place to quarantine- you're certainly living the high life!  I'm so jealous!  You're beautiful too, like the sunset.  You look like you're about to topple over, though.  Maybe you're flying, or something.

When I saw the trailer for the movie "Dark Phoenix", I knew I would hate it.  I guess it's because I grew up with the X-Men comics, back when Marvel was just a comic book, and I don't want to see their story told any differently.  But that was about 1983-1984, and the original Phoenix saga was 1976.  I did get to meet Chris Claremont, who I totally admired as the X-Men writer at the Salt Lake City comicon.  And he gave me a revelation to shake my ignorant youthful world: The X-Men are just for jerking off to.

Well, he was right.  As is the case for much of showbiz.  While Dave Cockrum is well-respected, I don't see how his art could be sexy.  Not compared to comics nowadays, at least.

No, the movies don't seem to stack up to the comics visually.  Maybe that's the fault and reason for the flop.  For me, I simply preferred the original storytelling.  What do you think people would do if Dark Phoenix were for real and in our world right now?  They would spy in on her everyday life, of course.

Honey braised chicken with green beans sautéed in chilli bean oil

Hi Natty!  How's quarantine?  Oh, are you still busy?  Yeah, the Internet is a busy place.  Many people go without sleep, it's a sign of the times.  It's been a hectic day for me.  It's laundry day, so I got up early to do my laundry but there was a queue for the washer.  So while I was waiting for that, I did my usual daily chores like cleaning up after cats, collecting water, making my coffee and tea, etc.  My mother wanted me to go to the grocer to get her some flat noodles and scallions, so when the washer was available I dumped my clothes in there, started the machine and drove off to the grocer on my motorcycle.  While I was there, I got more green hot chilli peppers.  The green beans looked good, so I got some of that.  I made a batch of dough when I was waiting for my wash, and my Mom gave me some old honey which had crystallized.  Apple blossom honey.  Not bad for a generic brand.  Chinese, of course.  Since it was turning solid, it could only be used for cooking.  I had a chicken breast which I defrosted for dinner today, plus the chilli bean paste I made yesterday.  It's actually chilli bean oil, but since I blended the soybeans and chillies in oil not water, it turned into a paste.  I marinated the chicken breast in the honey, then heated up a little oil in a pan.  The oil has to be hot, so I used a medium flame (I rarely go past medium fire).  When hot enough, I fried the chicken.  The purpose is to caramelize the honey and turn the outside of the chicken breast almost black, but the inside is still raw.  I took out the chicken, turned down the heat, then sautéed diced green beans with a few green hot chilli peppers in 3 tablespoons of my chilli bean oil.  Not too long!  The beans must keep their snap!  Then I put the chicken back in after dicing it, and cooked it until the raw was gone.  Done!  It was a success.  Alhamdulillah.  I enjoyed it with small tortillas.

I Googled "Honey braised chicken with green beans sautéed in chilli bean oil", and this is what I got.  Well, this is the closest to what I made.  I didn't use sesame seeds, though.  Could have, but didn't.  My chicken had darker crust, and my sauce was thicker, but as usual, I was too lazy to take a snapshot.

Comfy?

 Oh I didn't see you there on the floor, Natty!  I nearly tripped over you.  Are you comfy?  I prefer sleeping on the floor, myself.  I need a rug or mat to dull the cold concrete, plus a bed sheet and pillows, but I could never sleep on a soft bed ever again or it would throw my back.  You do look comfy, though.  But you don't have to sleep on the floor if you don't want to.

I'm still into my exploration of soybeans, and right now I'm really getting into soups and stocks.  I made another batch of anchovy miso, plus I made some chilli bean paste.  It turned out kind of green.  That's probably because I used green hot chilli peppers instead of red hot chilli peppers.  It's yummy though, so I'm going to have to call it a success.  I made some noodle soup with the stuff.  It turned out OK, but I need more practice and fine tuning.  Same thing tomorrow for lunch, but this time less water and no vinegar!

Lots of scaredy cats today:

Monday

 Hi Natty!  Oh, fluffy kitty!  Is that your sister's cat?  It looks snuggly, but you can only snuggle a cat if it really loves you.  I guess you're back in Vancouver for the holidays.  I'm happy you're away from SoCal.  You probably love it there, but I never really liked LA.  How are you feeling?  Being cooped up can get kind of lonely.  Don't worry about a thing, my love.  Everything is going to work out just awesome for us inshaAllah.  I love you with all of my heart.  I will marry you, inshaAllah.

You know, if you want to talk to me you can approach Mary Unknown7 at the karaoke place while she's working.  She will then get me, and I will listen to your voice so I know it's you.  From there, I can give you my email or something.  It's the only practical way for us to communicate one on one, and this will have to be done eventually if you are serious about marriage.  Perhaps you would like to do so sooner, for the sake of love?  I know I love you.

Today is Monday, and it's business as usual.  I just finished my dinner, and I'm about to take a nap before I meet Mary Unknown7 to do wardrobe.  I had rice with fried chicken, and some squid takoyaki which I bought at the night market.  I'm seeing more and more Japanese brands there, no Japs though.  Anyway, gotta take that nap so my eyes don't burn.

Here's another nice snapshot from the How does your avatar look today ? thread.