Hot tomato chutney

I know that the APP was all over the DX7 in the 1980s (or more likely, a Yamaha TX816 with rack-mounted TF1s, tomato tomAHto), and their Stereotomy album could have been alternatively titled "Hey, listen to our new TX816."
But I'd love to understand what synth they used as the pad for Chinese Whispers:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4zljYUtoADHUfQrbDSuRg3?si=1fe450e06ea84e60
My second guess would have been the Korg M1 since it was the other hot synth of the 1980s, but it didn't arrive until three years later.

TL;DR- pulled up restaurants in an app and accidentally ordered my breakfast the app charged double what the restaurant charged.
This morning I found myself with free time and wanting to get out of a funk. I decided to take myself out to breakfast. My friends recommended a few places around town, and to easily compare the restaurants and prices I pulled them up in door dash rather than multiple phone browsers.
I decided on the most delicious breakfast bagel I’ve ever seen- toasted on a cheese and tomato bread, cream cheese, avocado, bacon, and I went crazy and added extra tomatoes. I had a plan and knew what I wanted.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what door dash would charge to have it delivered. My $23 gourmet bagel and coffee would be $43 if ordered through the app. I audibly laughed and took a screenshot and through nothing of it.
I put my phone down to get ready to go, and when I got out of the shower I realized I somehow hit the order button and my bagel was on its way.
I somehow ordered the world’s most expensive bagel. Was it worth it? Absolutely- but not for $43 bucks. This is probably my new favorite breakfast item- but would be way better in person and fresh and hot. For the record, even delivered lukewarm it was spectacular.
Behold the world’s most expensive and delicious bagel. https://imgur.com/a/xZclEaf

I’m feeling quite grateful that the weather hasn’t gotten hot here in Los Angeles, CA. I’m still waiting for my broccoli to form crowns, I have lettuce I don’t want to bolt, and’s sugar snap peas growing.
HOWEVER, I also have an overwintered couple of tomato plants that are chock full of unripe tomatoes right now (at least 20 large tomatoes with more forming every day) as well as a couple of cucumber and a bunch of summer squash starts I can’t wait to take off.
At least it looks like a couple of the tomatoes are starting to get some color! I kinda wish I had two microclimates in my back yard right now lol.

Chicago Summer™️ is coming in hot (get it? hot?) and this does mean my social life is about to pick up and involve a few more dinners and such (plus my birthday in a couple of months!), so I wanted to get a feel for what I could eat and drink, and I'm happy to say that it's more or less the same as before, but definitely more mindful and less alcohol-driven.
My disclaimer is: this is not a calories experiment but rather confirming what is safe for my stomach. I will be on Zep, or some variation of a GLP1, for the rest of my life so I need to learn its limits! Especially since I had been having GERD recently that I'm managing with omeprazole. My goal is not to eat garbage or party hard -- it's to be able to live a balanced life where I can appreciate good food without having to count calories like pennies.
I also come from a different cultural background, so eventually, I would like to be able to go back to eating the food I know and love regularly. It's no less nutritious than American health foods -- it's just a different balance of macros... richer and more acidic with lots of tomatoes, eggplant, olives, and so on.
So as a trial, I went out on my own last night to test out what a typical dinner looks like. If things went bad immediately, I could go home without needing to worry a friend, or make a big embarrassing mess. Plus I've been long overdue for some self-date time.
Shot Stats:
I'm on compound and take 4mg. Last Sunday was my 7th shot, 8th will be this Monday. I'm down 14lbs from my highest weight, 11 of them from Zep.
I take my shots on Sunday or Monday specifically so that I feel comfortable by Friday/Saturday if I need to go out. I generally eat a lot less the first 5 days, then closer to 1500 the last 2 days of the week, giving me about a 1300 calories/wk average. I'm sedentary at this time so my TDEE is around 2400 and my [lab tested] BMR is around 2000. At about a 1.8lbs/wk loss, I'm in a reliable deficit.
However, the longer I remain on a dose, the easier it is to eat more consistently. I would NOT go out if my dose had gone up this week or last because that can be really disruptive to my stomach. I do not rock the boat.
My summer social schedule involves about 3 food related outings per month in the summer, a little more around my birthday, and is usually dinner and drinks but sometimes brunch, and rarely lunch. This doesn't include various coffees and non-food events. (In the winter I go out like once every 3 months lol INCREDIBLE savings)
Before dinner:
I drank ample water with electrolytes, and ate normally but on the lower fat end of the spectrum. I didn't want to go in hungry or with low blood sugar (something that I've been prone to after I started Zep if I go too long without food). Doing that will definitely make me vomit. In the end I'd rather go over calories than make myself sick by "saving" calories for a meal.
I also know I lean towards fattier food in general and especially when I go out so I want to keep that in check since fats can sometimes give me the runs on Zep.
What I ate:

• Tuna crudo appetizer (5 pieces) with sundried tomatoes 🐟
• Branzino with eggplant caponata 🐠
• Maple butterscotch budino 🍧

What I drank:

• 1 herbaceous gin cocktail 🍹
• 2 glasses of orange wine 🍷
• 1oz of amaro 🥃
• Lots of water 💧

Results:
I haven't had much, if any, alcohol since early Feb, before I started Zep, so my tolerance seems to have gone way down. I was tipsy by the end of my first glass of wine. I was a hard, hard drinker for the last 5 years and my normal go-out drink numbers are close to 8 drinks and beyond, and I drank regularly at home too. So this was interesting. I was definitely straight up sleepy by the time I was ready to go home.
I had no real inclination to go harder on the drinks, which is good!
Food felt fine. No nausea, no vomiting, no discomfort. I definitely could tell I was full by the end of the branzino, and did not finish my budino, so splitting dessert would be a must for me. If I were eating anything heavier than fish (eg pasta, steak, lamb, etc), I would have possibly declined dessert and just stuck to an amaro or coffee/tea.
But I am very partial to fish and lamb when going out because it's often selections and recipes I don't make at home! Especially in the summer.
I did eat very slowly. I arrived around 5:30 and left around 8:00. This is a little slower than how I would eat and drink with a friend, which is usually a 1.5-2hr experience.
For the last 3 years every time I drink, I needed pepcid, but this time I did not feel any burning or discomfort. Neat! ✅
The total that I could put together for ALL of yesterday is around 2400 calories, which is my TDEE, so I broke even for the day.
The Day After (today):
No hangover! No runs! I definitely did not sleep as well as I could have because alcohol disrupts sleep, but I also don't feel sick or uncomfortable, besides a little gas. But I'm also a gassy person and it's my period week so it the food or me as a person? Who knows. 🤣
I'm a little dehydrated -- sticky, dry mouth. The plan for today is lots of water and simple foods just in case. I am a little hungrier this morning than I would normally be (alcohol trashes blood sugar).
My weight is up nearly 3lbs, which I expected. As I said, I'm dehydrated and had more food than usual, so more water retained. This should go down in a couple of days.
Reflection:
Happy with this experiment, and glad I followed my instincts on what's "safe" to consume right now vs what is risky. As time goes on I will naturally experiment further and reintroduce more foods.
I think the real concern is sticking to my 3-drink limit (4 if you count the amaro I guess) when I'm around my more enabling friends. But I think they would respect it if I said I'm cutting back on alcohol, since it's historically been a problem for me. I think this is a fine limit for any dates as well, which is something I'd been concerned about.
This has also made me realize that I just prefer healthy foods in moderate quantities and always have. Even when going out, the challenge was more the alcohol than the food. Not keeping alcohol at home is a good decision for me, and hopefully my general disinterest in it continues.
And that's it!
Stay smart, don't force yourself to eat or drink anything, and be mindful of your glucose. Don't go ham on weeks where your dose goes up. Be careful with fatty and acidic foods. If you're already feeling unwell, don't go out. Drink lots of water.

(all measures/conversions approximate)
Meats: 2 pounds (900g) lean ground beef 1 pound (450g) Italian sausage 1 pound (450g) applewood bacon, finely chopped 1 pound (450g) linguiça (or chorizo) 1 pound (450g) whatever catches my eye...I’ve used ground turkey, lamb, bison, and shredded chicken in the past
Vegetables (finely diced): 1 large red bell pepper 1 large green pepper 2-3 Hungarian wax peppers (cubanelles for milder flavor) 1 medium sweet onion
Canned tomatoes: 3 total 28 oz (800g) either diced tomatoes or tomato sauce 1 6 oz (170g) tomato paste
Canned beans: 2 28 oz (800g) red kidney 1 28 oz (800g) dark red kidney 1 28 oz (800g) great northern 1 28 oz (800g) pinto 1 28 oz (800g) navy 1 16 oz (450g) chick peas (garbanzos) 1 16 oz (450g) pigeon peas 1 16 oz (450g) black beans 1 16 oz (450g) seasoned chili beans (may not be available everywhere)
Other ingredients: 4 cups (950ml) beef broth 1 4 oz (115g) can diced green chilies 1 16 oz (450g) hominy
Seasonings: 4 tbsp (56g) cumin 3-4 tbsp (42-56g) chili powder 2-3 tbsp (28-42g) Hungarian paprika (or ancho chile powder) 2 tbsp (28g) garlic powder 2 tbsp (28g) oregano 1 1/2 tbsp (21g) onion powder 1-2 tbsp (14-28g) brown sugar 1-2 tbsp (14-28g) cocoa powder
Extras: Saltine crackers Cheddar cheese Various hot sauces
Instructions: Cook sausages and bacon in pot first (NOT in skillet). Remove with slotted spoon and cook remaining meats, seasoning with 1 1/2 tbsp cumin, 1/2 tbsp each onion powder and garlic powder.
Once all meat is cooked, return first batch to pot and simmer over medium heat with beef broth and vegetables. After five to ten minutes, start adding tomatoes, seasonings, and beans (DO NOT drain). Simmer for a minimum of 6-8 hours, stirring every half hour.

TL;DR- First time at Dirty Martin's for a burger in my life time and it was just mediocre all the way around.
I've lived here most of my life with the exception of college and military. I've never been to Dirty Martin's *(DM) until last night. A buddy and I were going to try Crown and Anchor, but he convinced me to detour and try DM. I'll admit I was skeptical; It's gotten mixed reviews from a variety of sources and it's been there since I was a kid.
It was seemingly low traffic, but we didn't sit inside. Outside had us and one other table, two more after that as we were packing up to leave. There was no line at the time we arrived but the parking lot was full, so I'm guessing most of the other patrons were inside.
Service was fine. We were greeted quickly and our food came out hot and in an average amount of time. 6 out of 10 on account of just being average and folks smiling while they talked to us.
Price was average too, maybe slightly below. $10.95 for the buger and like $5/6 for the fries? Buddy paid and bought beer for himself and the total was like $47 together.
I ordered the OT Burger. A classic double meat burger with American cheese, bacon, lettuce, onion, tomato. AND MAYO! I'm not adverse to that, but didn't even think to add mustard because I was so damn hungry. This burger didn't blow me away but it wasn't awful either. The bun was very crispy on the top, and despite what I had heard most recently, the burger wasn't some giant ball of grease. The fries were also standard run of the mill fries being crispy and hot, a little on the salty side but that varies by individual. 7 out of 10 from me.
I'm not sure if I'd kum-back to DM. I know I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there for sure. Maybe if I was in the vicinity and needed a burger it would be the place?

Needing to keep it under 400 if possible!

Like it or not, 2 coats of seasoning on a new store-bought pan is not enough for a pan to reliably cook eggs. The world isn't fair sometimes, I'm sorry.
Most days of the week I cook 2 eggs in a CI pan with about 1 TB olive oil. They slide out the same as they have slid out for years. Last egg I had stick was during the Obama administration.
There is a simple test to know if your pan is ready for slidey eggs or not:

1. Wash your pan gently with hot water and soap, removing all the oil from the cooking side. Then dry it off.
2. The cooking surface should look flat black. Now add some water to the pan and swirl it around, pour it out, then hold the pan up and look at it.
3. Anywhere on your pan that's wet - as in glossy wet - is where the egg will stick. You want to see only flat black and dry cooking surface. No water beading at all. We call that "hydrophobic" - water repellent.

Not all layers of CI seasoning are the same, and it does take time to build up a fully hydrophobic layer of seasoning that resists water, and thus protein from the egg from finding anywhere to grab hold.
Now make some tea and let's talk about fixing this. And wipe that pan down with oil before you put it away.
If your pan isn't 85% hydrophobic, it's on the DL. Don't cook eggs in it yet - don't force it to do what it can't do yet. Don't fight your pan about this, because you'll lose. Again. Just accept the world is as it is, and do the work to improve your situation.
Methods to "just cook with it" that get you to slidey eggs faster:

• Saute veggies
• Cornbread (any baking, really, that lets batter swim in butter)
• Dutch Baby (see above about batter swimming in butter)
• Butteoil poaching proteins (steak, chicken, etc.)
• Pancakes
• Pan fried anything (eggplant for eggplant parm, fried green tomatoes, breaded proteins like fish or chicken, etc.)

The point is to get the pan hot and keep it hot while coating the inner surface with oil, while also making food to reward yourself for your patience.
Things that don't change how your pan works:
Digital thermometers. I get slidey eggs over a campfire or when I don't preheat enough because I haven't had coffee yet. So getting some perfect temperature, whatever that is, isn't the problem. Some of y'all are stressing about this and buying stuff you don't need like preppers in the tacticool aisle at Wal-Mart getting ready for a solar EMP.
Fat. The oil or fat you cook with doesn't matter. Cook in the oil you want to taste on your eggs. Don't make people change who you are when you're at home and no one else is looking.
Music. Listen to whatever music you want do when you cook. Or a podcast. You do you. Though cooking with some joy and love in your heart does actually make the food taste better, even if it doesn't affect if your eggs stick or not.
It's dangerous to go alone! Take this 🍳