Hit the Road AT&T Cellular

 

(Not my phone but VERY close to it.)

Cells phones… basically you have to have one now.  But we only wanted basic so we always had a ‘flip phone’.  It makes calls and I can text if I must.  And that was good enough for us because... 

1.  We don’t use them much – only when we are away from home - since we don’t want to be bothered.  

2.  They were just too darn expensive for our budget (yes, we could ‘afford’ one but we want other things more). 

So for years we have used our prepaid flip phone thru AT&T.  As little as we used it, it only ran us about $12 a month.  Good enough! 

But then about 6 months ago I’d get a message at some times when I tried to make a call saying my 3G phone was going out of commission on 22 Feb 2022.  It stated we would need to get a new phone before that date.  OK fine, that was almost a year away.  I’ll get around to it. 

But then… 

The beginning of September, AT&T started high-jacking my phone weekly.  I could not make a call until I listened to their high pressure sales pitch on how they would “help” me to switch my phone NOW.  

I had to tell them to release my phone so I could make my call that I had paid for.  They would put me on hold “so they could verify the request went thru…”  During which time I was subjected to a 3 minute (every time) advertisement on upgrading my phone.  The whole process would take about 10 minutes. 

EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. 

I ‘was’ going to continue my service with AT&T until this customer DIS-service campaign happened. 

I am now the happy (and very confused) owner of my very first ‘entry level’ smart phone with a prepay plan through a different company.  

AT&T received this email from me:  Hello AT&T!  I am so very happy to let you know I have upgraded my cell phone service from my old 3G.  Even tho I had until 22 Feb to do this your harassing weekly highjacking of my phone line (which denied me the service I'd paid for) motivated me to do the switch now.  TO A DIFFERENT COMPANY!!  Bye-bye AT&T.  You forced this customer to run. 

(I will review my new phone and company) a bit later when I’ve used it for a while.   

Good Morning 2022

 

I'm not holding out enough hope to say "Happy" New Year but 2022 do you think that maybe you'll not be a total wench like your last two predecessors?  

Is it too much to ask for just a little bit less malignant political drama?  It would be really nice if the country AND world would start working on fixing problems rather than selfishly making even more new ones.  And let's all work together to NOT work all the way through the Greek alphabet with yet more new Covid variants.  (BTW... does anyone know how the heck we went from Delta variant to Omicron?  What happened to the other 10 letters in between??)  A bit less media manipulation would be nice too. 

The saying goes, "If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem". 

So this year no stupid shallow New Year's Resolutions. 

Instead I'll make a pledge to become part of the solution to help fix the crappy place the world is becoming.  Would you care to join me?

A Jab at the End of the Year

 

Another Year Gone - Bye Bye 2021

 There is not much to say for 2021.  We're hoping for better in the new year.

That being said, I leave you with something beautiful.  We had a volunteer sunflower come up along the sidewalk where we winter feed the birds.

It brightened our summer.

Here is how it started.  

And then...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Review: Sumo Orange

 My Japanese cooking Facebook group has been singing the praises of the 'sumo orange'.  So much so that when I saw them in Publix I decided to try one.  

The sumo orange is not an orange at all.  It is a giant mandarin grown only in Japan.  It is touted as easy to peel - Yes.  It is distinctively sweet - Yes, it has a honey-like taste.  It is seedless - Yes.  It is expensive - YES, one small orange sized sumo cost $4!

I realize that a lot of loving care goes into growing them.  The small trees are hand pruned so each fruit gets sunlight.  They are tree ripened so the shipping time is short.  They are hand picked.  They are transported on a water conveyor belt.  All processing and packing is done by hand.

They are delicious.  But in my opinion, they are not worth $4 each.

Korokee

 Last new recipe for the year - Korokee.  Basically a Japanese potato croquette.  They are favorite of Japanese children and Deane's favorite so far too.

Dry smashed potatoes

Forming the patties

Fry carefully - they brown really fast

Ready to eat!

 Korokke - ala Teri:

 1 lb starchy potatoes

½ lb ground beef

1/4 cup mushrooms (shitake are great), minced

2 TBS finely minced fresh ginger

1/2 TBS olive oil

Oil for deep frying (amount depends on the size of your frying container)

Salt and pepper to taste

Coating:

1 egg

4 TBS flour

3 TBS water

2 TBS Yum Yum sauce

2 cups (maybe more) PANKO bread crumbs

 

Peel and quarter potatoes.  Boil for about 10 minutes or until skewer goes thru easily. 

 Drain completely, and then put potatoes that are still in the pot back on still-warm stove burner to dry off completely.  As you put them on, give a little shake to rough up the surface (helps in drying off).  Then mash potatoes with potato masher to a rough mash (still has chunks). 

 Make batter from first 4 coating ingredients.  Put in shallow wide mouth bowl.  Put Panko into a separate wide mouth bowl.  Set aside near your cooking area.

 While potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in fry pan.  Add ground beef, mushrooms, and ginger.  As ground beef cooks, break it up to very small pieces.

 Add meat mix to cooked mashed-up potatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.  Let mix cool so you can handle it to form ovals, but it still needs to be pretty warm.

 When potatoes are cool to handle, divide into 8 equal amounts.  Form each portion into a flat oval.  Place on a plate.

 Heat deep fry oil until it is about 350*. 

 Take one potato ovals, dip into batter, then the Panko.   Slip into hot oil.   Quickly repeat with another one or two more ovals depending on fryer size.  Remember, the interior is already cooked so you are just getting the golden crust on the outside.  It goes quick!  Make sure you remember to turn them so both sides brown evenly.  Drain on a paper towel lined plate while you continue to cook.

 Serve immediately.

 

A Great Product for Uber Dry Hair

 Been studying on the pure poison that is put into shampoo.  Dimethicone, silicon, paraben, sulfates and more.  We use 3 different brands that are supposed to be 'good ones'.  Ha!  Each have at least one nasty ingredient.

 Really good ones cost $20 and up (searching Amazon).  Uff-da!

 One whim I pulled out Persia's sensitive cat shampoo.  It is a better product than what we have!!!!!!!  No garbage whatso ever.  Fragrance free.  And it costs about $6 a bottle.  I almost tried using it!

 But I found a new product made for people.  Backing up for a moment, all my African-American girlfriends have issues with dry brittle hair.  Hair that breaks.  And as it would turn out, my menopause 'gift' has been dry, brittle, breaky hair.  So... I hear about this product for African-American women's hair.  And I think "Why not?"  Better yet, I can order it from Walmart and get it delivered out to my car.   

 This stuff is AMAZING!!  It is light and does not weigh my hair down or make it look greasy.  And it smells so good.  I have seen such an improvement in my hair condition since I started using it in June.