Almost-100th Post

Well, now, here's a funny thing. This blog named Hatandcoat, so diffidently updated by its creator, has gone past Districted and has arrived at its 100th post.

Almost.

The Blogger Dashboard reports that Hatandcoat had had 99 posts before this one, but Blogger includes an unfinished, unpublished draft. The draft is, of course, by Hatandcoat. It is titled "What Blogging Feels Like." There is no text other than that.

So I don't feel bad posting this Almost-Hundredth Post. I'll wait for Hatandcoat to look back nostalgically upon the 100 postings, once he deletes "What Blogging Feels Like" and sets down to really write something.

Hatandcoat has a case of writer's block, he says. The lurid details of BJJ dojos may never reach you via this half-alive blog. Things are so desperate, I think I'll suggest a web service that is designed to keep blogs alive. Go to http://www.plinky.com/, Hatandcoat, and seek help.*

As for me, I think I'll write about my food adventures today. (I know my audience.)

For breakfast, I made steel-cut oats the Bittman way. I'd always been suspicious of the 45 minutes steel-cut oats allegedly took, and the Bitten post I linked to above told me my instincts had been correct. After 25 minutes, I cut up a banana for some natural sweetness and put it in the steaming-hot oatmeal. It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but a dash of maple syrup fixes most things in the morning.

Then I helped move my roommate's boyfriend into a new rental house. It wasn't far away, and it didn't take long. But instead of the normal pizza thank-you meal, I had a pot roast my roommate's mom had brought over for the occasion. (A HUGE roast. I have not seen that much meat since Christmas.) It was nice, although one of the helpers was a vegetarian.

Around 8:30 pm I started making veggie lasagna. Here is the recipe. While slicing the carrots on the mandolin slicer, I gouged my finger above the knuckle on the back, all the way down to the fatty tissue (is that bad?). Other than that, the lasagna-making went smoothly. (As of this edit, it has been 4 hours and it is still bleeding. Is that bad?)

We set up two mousetraps, one really expensive humane one from a hardware store, and one made out of a half-flattened toilet paper tube. I'll let you know which one works, if any. We put bread on the expensive one and peanut butter and cheese on the end of the tube (tying this section in to food).

And finally, near midnight, I hardboiled six eggs by covering them in cold water, salting the water, getting it to boil, and then removing the pan from heat as soon as the boil starts. After 15 minutes, I drained the hot water and poured cold water over the eggs. Unfortunately, I hadn't added any vinegar, so three of the six eggs cracked. I'm hoping the cracked ones will last at least until Tuesday.

*Also, if any readers out there have suggestions for Mr. Hatandcoat as to what he should write, please let him know in the comments.