Tales of a Top Tier Chef

Alright, things happened this week. No idea how interesting those things are, though. We’ve had a bunch of video calls with people throughout the week, which is always a good time. We’ve had probably 90% of our lessons cancel on us this week, so that’s a sad little statistic.

Alright, we got some GREAT news. I made grilled ham and cheese for lunch (again), and I’ve just about got it perfected. I know precisely where the temperature of the stove needs to be, how long the sandwich should be there, the right amount of cheese and ham, and how to get it perfectly golden brown on the outside while having cheese that is literally melted so well it’s like a flowing river of pure, cheesy goodness. Wow, truly something to taste. Hope anyone out there who skipped lunch is really feeling that grilled ham and cheese right about now.

Then on to a tale of true pain. THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. So after a year of being in Oklahoma, and NOT wearing a retainer… I decided to just full send it and try to get this bad boy back in my mouth. I figure if I can just tough it out through the sheer pain until it fits again, I won’t have to worry about my teeth after the mission. So night one, I popped the bottom in, and it was pretty easy, still hurt a bit, but it was nothing compared to the top. At first, I couldn’t fit the top in. Like my teeth hurt SO MUCH, that I couldn’t get through it. So I had to gradually work up to that. So I’m sitting in this pitch black room, just on my bed as I slowly inch this piece of pain plastic into my mouth. It hurt. Oh it hurt BAD. But I eventually got it to the point where it stayed, without me pressing it into my teeth. And once it finally stayed on it’s own, I just laid there, looking up into the abyss of pain itself, as I yelled on the inside. I didn’t want to bother my guy Elder Miller who was sleeping on the other side of the room, but I was breathing so furiously through my nostrils that poor chap was probably wide awake. Then of course, the day finally arrived after that night of glorious slumber, and I’m thinkin, “Boy oh boy, I’ll get to pop these things out and all the pain will just vanish from my mouth!” Well. That didn’t happen. It was still in pain until about 3 that day, so that was pretty cool. But that was just night one. We’ve done 3 nights so far, and I’m just gonna keep going until it doesn’t hurt. Hopefully you guys enjoyed that fun little update on my mouth.

Ah yes, and then we can’t forget about our water buffalo adventure. So that massive slab or ground beef we have, that I made seasoned beef with last week? Yeah, that’s still hanging around. PROBLEM IS: On one occasion where I placed it in some water to help it thaw, the bag had the tiniest hole, and it got mixed in with the beef. And then I threw it back in the freezer… SO, there was just a chunk of raw cow in this frozen meaty water juice the next time I took it out. And I took it out when we were about halfway through dinner time, so I couldn’t waste a single moment, and I needed to get this beef from being mixed with water and frozen together in a bag, to being broken apart and cooking in a pan. And I had about 20 minutes to do that. So cut to me slamming frozen meat in a bag against the countertops. Nothing. The meat refused to break into manageable pieces. So I had to grab this 25 pound weight we had, and go to town on this thing. Still nothing. Well, there goes 7 minutes, so I end up just throwing the whole thing in the pan, and start grillin. Now, the water is melting, and I’m having to lift this meat up every 30 seconds or so, just so I can scrape off the meat that has broken off of the main chunk, so it can swim around in the pan pool. Then I have to take the pan over to the sink, and drain out the water without losing any meat. Oh man, it was a process. BUT, we got it done. And the meat wasn’t bad! So it all worked out. And we got a new bag! It ended up getting ripped (no idea how) and so this new bag will keep it safe. And since most of the ice melted off, it’s no longer a stew. All’s well that ends well I guess.

And wow. That’s the week. A bit long, but shoutout to all the champs that read this.

So, technical difficulties with the raffle, we got it redrawn and everything, but I don’t have it uploaded yet, because it’s like, TEN MINUTES LONG, but it will go up either today or tomorrow I hope. So here’s the link again, and check it to see if you win sometime this week. Who knows? It could be you…

THE RAFFLE:

Over and out

SHOUTOUTS:

  • Conor – My guy Conor is just such a great guy, I gotta give him one.
  • Conner – My other guy Conner is also such a great guy, so he gets one too.

Pics:

  • On the 18th we went and got shakes for my one-year mark
  • The FATTEST CHUNK OF BEEF (it kinda looked like a giant heart, which was cool)