0 comments on "Getting Ready for Winter"

It’s that time of year again.

Pumpkin everything, yes, but also when the cold winds start blowing and the winter chill inevitably sets in. And the old winter clothes get taken out of storage, and hats, gloves, and scarves become normal fashion accoutrements.

This year, in advance of the coming cold, I’ve bought myself a hot water bottle. It’s a normal one with a cute face cover and it’s pretty nice. Plus it was really cheap. (Double nice!)

Amazon ADLINK: samply Hot Water Bottle- 2 Liter Water Bag with Cute Fleece Cover, Bear Blue.

I bought a normal hot water bottle rather than the silicone-type that can go in the microwave because I was worried about leakage. So I figured I’d get an old dependable model now, and then get a microwavable one in the future.

The one I got cost around $10, and you can’t put boiling water in it, unlike the silicone-type. So later, when it starts getting colder I’m going to get a silicone one and test it out. And if it turns out to be leaky like the reviews hint at, I’ll still have Old Dependable to fall back on.

If I knew how to knit, I could have saved a few dollars and bought one without a cover. But since I’ve found out I really suck at yarn crafts, I’ll just have to put up with the microfiber bear face.

I know a hot water bottle seems very old-timey, but there’s a reason why it’s a classic. I’ll be able to throw it between the sheets a bit before i go to bed and it will be nice and warm. If I get the silicone one, I’ll be able to hug one and push the other one toward the bottom of the bed to heat my feet. Plus Banjo will probably LOVE it once she realizes the benefits.

Amazon ADLINK: HarperWCK’s Amazon Page: Health and Beauty.

I’ve added some hot water bottles to the Health and Beauty section of my Amazon shop and I’ll probably be looking at more as I try to figure out which one I want to buy in the future. (I’m poor, which means a little extra searching on my part to find good stuff.) So if you want to take a look, I hope it saves you some search time.

Even right now, I’m testing out my hot water bottle and it’s actually really nice. The heat radiates through the cover and it’s not too hot to hold.

I was a little worried that the water I used was too hot–I don’t want to melt it–and now I’m not sure how I’m going to refill it in the future. I mean, am I going to pour out the water and reheat it, or am I going to use the water for other stuff and put new water in? I really don’t want to pour the hot water bottle water into my kettle since it’s probably dirty (undrinkable) now and I don’t want to have to scrub out my kettle everyday.

It’s the whole reason why I want a microwavable hot water bottle. Just fill it once, then reheat the same water in the future.

I’m really going to keep an eye out for a microwavable hot water bottle that also has a big enough mouth opening to add regular sized ice cubes. I just want to avoid any with reviews talking about leakage. I mean, a liter of water poured into my bed in the middle of a cold night seems horrible and I don’t want to experience it.

Anyways, it’s that time of year again. And while this autumn has started off very mild (there’s been a LOT of sun here and plants are STILL producing new leaves and some are even making flowers) I want to be ready for when the weather turns. I don’t want to be huddled in my coat in the living room, shivering and chattering my teeth while my fingers ache from the cold. Not again. NEVER again.

So in conjunction with the new electrical wall heater, I have high hopes for my hot water bottle(s) and my fleece leggings. And soon I’ll probably get a new winter coat. It’s been a long time since I’ve bought one and my old one is ready to become a backup model.

Pax,
~HarperWCK

Fortress in the Eye of Time at Amazon
Panoply at Amazon
1 comment on "I made dumplings yesterday"

I made some pork and celery dumplings last night and they came out really good. They were surprisingly easy to make!

And I’m very shocked by it, because I’ve always wanted to make dumplings from scratch but held off because I thought they would be too hard for me. But they were really easy.

  • 1-1/4 pound of ground pork
  • 3 or 4 celery stalks finely minced
  • 1/3 cup of finely chopped carrot
  • 2 scallions minced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp finely minced ginger
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tsp oyster sauce
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 1/2 C water
  • 2 packages dumpling wrappers or homemade wrappers
  1. If you’re making homemade wrappers, add 4 cups all-purpose flour to a large bowl and gradually mix in 1-1/3 cups of tepid water. It might seem hard, but knead it into a smooth dough. It will take about 10 minutes. Cover with a plate and set aside for 1 hour.

  2. Put the minced celery in a small bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes to release the excess water.

  3. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the carrots for about 2 minutes until they’re slightly softened. Turn off the heat and let them cool.

  4. Squeeze the excess water out of the celery and add them to a large bowl with the ground pork, carrots, ginger, scallions, sugar, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Using a pair of chopsticks, begin stirring the mixture in one direction, gradually streaming in the Shaoxing wine and water. Mix about 10 minutes until you get an emulsified paste.

  5. If you bought dumpling wrappers, moisten the outer edges of a wrapper and add 1 tablespoon of filling to the center. Pleat the dumpling closed, using additional water to make sure it’s completely sealed. Continue wrapping dumplings until all filling is gone.

  6. If you made your own wrapper dough, divide the dough into small pieces and roll into balls. Use a rolling pin to flatten the balls into thin 3-1/2 inch circles. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of a wrapper and pleat the edges together. Continue wrapping dumplings until all filling is gone.

  7. Pan-fry, steam, or boil dumplings. Lay uncooked dumplings on a parchment paper covered sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until they’re solid, then separate them into Ziploc bags or freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Enjoy.

How to pan-fry dumplings: Add a couple tablespoons vegetable oil to a frying pan over medium heat. Add dumplings and fry until the bottoms of the dumplings are lightly golden brown and flip. Hold up the pan lid to block any splash-back and add about 1/2 cup water to the pan (around the dumplings, not on them!) then immediately put the lid on the pan. Let the dumplings continue cooking about 7 minutes while the water steame away. Then uncover the pan and continue cooking until the pan is dry and the bottoms of the dumplings are crispy.

How to steam dumplings: Add dumplings to a steamer and steam on medium to medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes.

How to boil dumplings: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop in the dumplings and stir them around so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Bring the water back to a boil and cook for 6-8 minutes, depending on the dumpling size. Whenever the water comes to a vigorous boil, add an additional 1/4 cup of cold water to calm things down a little and prevent the dumplings from getting starchy.

Cooking frozen dumplings: Steam for 10 minutes, boil for 8 minutes.

I didn’t have Shaoxing wine, so I used white cooking wine, and I didn’t want to deal with mincing ginger so I bought a tube of ginger paste and used that.

When making the wrappers, I split the dough in two, then formed two long tubes and used a pastry cutter to split the tubes into smaller pieces. Then I cut those pieces in half, and those halves were what I rolled into balls and then tried to flatten into circles. I actually ended up with some pretty large-sized dumplings.

I had a really hard time making my wrappers circle-shaped. Like, none of them were circles. So next time, I’m going to search out my dumpling maker thing and use it to cut perfect circles out of the rolled dough. That just seems much more effective and simple.

I boiled the dumplings because I couldn’t remember the proper way to pan-fry them off the top of my head. And I noticed oil releasing into the water, which kind of surprised me. Then later, when eating them, all the juices trapped inside were like their own tasty soup. I could really taste the sesame oil, but not really the celery.

I’m really thinking about getting a bamboo steamer to cook things more healthier. So if I really get into making my own dumplings it will be worth it to invest in a steamer.

Steamer storage and steamer cost are the biggest hurdles right now. There’s really not a lot of space available in the kitchen. So I have a tendency to buy cooking gadgets, then they take up counter and cabinet space until someone else gets frustrated and they disappear. Then I need them and I’m SOL.

~HarperWCK

Heroes & Villains at Amazon
0 comments on "FUTURE TALK: flying cars"

I think the problem with flying cars is that if they existed, the same people that litter and throw still-lit cigarette butts out their car windows will still do that, just from 20-50 feet up in the air. So there will be fires starting on peoples’ roofs and high up in their trees. And people will have to climb up ladders to remove beer bottles and fast food trash from their gutters.

I mean, most people are like “They’ll be driving all crazy and crash into your house!” But that’s the more dangerous end of anti-flying car talk.

The normal everyday horror of flying cars would be people flying in cars doing all the same terrible things they do in regular cars. But overhead!

Birds will be flying around, minding their business, and get struck by flying cars.

Dirty diapers will rain down on peoples’ lawns, bursting open as they strike the ground. Contents splattering everywhere.

Flying cars seem absolutely horrible to me. Like, people would have to buy even more surveillance cameras but pointed upwards. And there would need to be license plates bolted to the bottom of aircars.

Police chases would be even more dangerous to bystanders. Bullets go everywhere!

It just seems nightmare-inducing. I had to share my thoughts. Like, aircars seem like a nonstarter to me 🤷🏻‍♀️