i was born to rock the boat, some may sink but we will float

I spent this morning preparing for snow - which meant getting up earlier than usual so that I could finish cleaning out my garage, which enabled me to get my car into my parking spot. I don't usually park in the garage because it's v. tight (even empty), but the threat of 6-12" of snow made me reconsider.

After I moved all my stuff and helped [censored] with a couple of tings, I walked down to the post office / city hall / lumber yard to take care of some last bits of mail / bills. Then I showered rather rapidly so that I could talk to my friend / former coworker Natalie about writing stuff, which was a delight.

At that point, it was time for lunch - [censored] and I both had leftover shrimp and andouille pasta, which was strangely even better than it was last night (odd for a pasta dish, but the gluten free pasta soaks up all liquid, and so it became quite flavorful and the sauce was less soupy). After that, it started snowing, and I gave myself a manicure while listening to a Conan podcast.

Eventually, I started cooking again - I kicked off cooking festivities earlier than usual, which was a good thing because the new-to-me recipe was wrong about cooking times, and so starting at four still meant that we didn't eat until almost 7:30pm. But I made a beef stew that was somewhat of a cross between boeuf bourguignon and more midwesternish stews, using a New York Times Cooking recipe that I modified (and also doubled). I usually don't modify on the first round, but I'm glad I did - I seasoned the beef with onion powder, garlic powder, and salt before searing, which I think made a world of difference. I also used almost twice as much beef as it called for, with no regrets. I might make a couple of other minor tweaks, but overall it was excellent (good thing, since I made a vat of it).

What really made it, though, was that I made mashed potatoes to serve under the stew. Some might think that potatoes two ways is unnecessary, but I consider it v. necessary. So [censored] and I enjoyed a nice hearty beef and potato feast while watching Mike Birbiglia's latest standup special on Netflix, among other tings.

And now, I need to go to bed - I didn't get any writing done today despite my best intentions, so I'm going to rectify that tomorrow. Goodnight!