next me sister started complaining again about losing their internet service. i was going to take a wait and see approach until we could get some more evidence like maybe they lose their internet more frequently during rainy weather (which would point to squirrel damage, which happened before back in march 2018), but i knew sooner or later i'd have to call comcast again to schedule an appointment, so i ended up just calling them. early in the morning the wait time was only 10 minutes. sandra was my agent. when i told her about possibly squirrel damage, she could relate because the same thing happened to her. they're still not doing any house calls, the only thing i could get was an outside service call, and those don't really have a schedule, just a promise to take a look at the problem within 24-48 hours. our record did show a technician came by the house on tuesday around 3:30pm, but the webcams didn't capture anything. this time around i made sandra put a note in the service call informing them that the utility pole is in the backyard and possible squirrel damage.
there was nothing we can do at that point about the internet. it wasn't like they didn't have any service, just the connection would drop intermittently. when they did have service, it's plenty fast (100Mbps). my sister kept on complaining about losing her internet that i got on my bike and raced down to her place to see if replacing the outdoor splitter might possibly fix the problem. i didn't bother kevin, figured it'd be a quick trip and i'd be back in less than half an hour. i replaced the splitter then return home by noon. it didn't seem to do anything though, because my sister still kept seeing dropped connections. but at least we managed to rule that out. if by saturday it still isn't fix, sandra said they'll escalate the issue to a house call which may or may not be doable, since none of the technicians want to set foot inside the house.
i had another chicken salad bagel sandwich for lunch along with a cold smoothie and a hot tea. anything cold and sweet immediately triggered my coughing, i should just stick with the hot drinks for the time being. hot and sweet doesn't seem to be a problem though, such as korean honey and ginger tea or hot chocolate.
kevin cooked a big meal for lunch, saving the leftovers for dinner. there's a certain logic to his madness, but i'm too used to having dinner be my biggest meal of the day, i couldn't eat that much for lunch, is often times is more like a glorified breakfast.
in the afternoon i went out again, this time to a quick trip to star market. i figured since i went to market basket yesterday, might as well get all my supermarket trips out of the way, so i won't have to visit them again for a few weeks. there was a lot more people wearing masks and gloves at star market. somehow being in "disguise" makes people behave like assholes, as they totally ignore other people, only stopping when you get too close to them. it's like living in a world where everyone has autism. star market also had a dedicated person (i've never seen her before, maybe a new hire for such a risky job) wiping down all the shopping carts and baskets. like at a lot of other shopping places, they had markers on the floor starting from the registers telling people how far apart to stand. star market seemed to have most things in stock, but the bread aisle was a little sparse though you could still find what you needed. like at aldi's, they had a plexiglass shield between the cashier and the customer, something they didn't have at market basket. when the cashier saw i was holding my own grocery bags, she started to inform me i can't use those, but i already knew the procedure: reusable grocery bags are dirty, so in the meantime they're reinstating plastic bags because they're more sanitary. it makes me curious if they'll discontinue the plastic bag ban for the foreseeable future under our new coronavirus reality.
soon after i came back from my grocery trip, kevin decided to go as well. he said he was going out, but when i asked him where he said to star market, which i already knew because in the past 3 weeks that's the only place he's gone to. i figured it'd be a quick trip, 20 minutes at most, but he was gone for nearly 70 minutes, i don't know how anyone can go to the supermarket for that long, especially during coronavirus time. i thought he'd come back with bags of groceries, but he wasn't carrying anything, managed to fit all the stuff he bought just in his backpack.
| italian sausage & broccoli risotto (2-4 servings) | |
|
32 oz. carton chicken broth (equivalent of 2 cans)
2 tbsp butter |
1 cup arborio rice 1 cup white wine 1 tbsp red pepper flakes fresh ground pepper
bowl frozen broccoli, thawed |
| warm up chicken broth in separate pot, turn off heat and cover. in large pot cook onion and garlic in butter. add sausages by squeezing out of casing and forming small meatballs. toss in leftover casings. once sausages cooked, add rice, coating in juices. add wine and spices, simmer until most of liquids gone. began adding chicken broth in 1/2 cup increments, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, add more broth when most of liquids absorbed. separately thaw frozen broccoli in microwave, 2 minutes. when risotto nearly done, mix in broccoli. add parmesan cheese, mix until melted. | |
for dinner i made my risotto recipe. risotto is an expression of love because it takes so much effort to cook (all that stirring). i was going to let kevin try some, but he didn't seem to be the least bit curious as to what i was cooking even though i was in the kitchen for a long time. that just means i can have the risotto all to myself. the end result tasted pretty good. i had enough left over for 2 more servings, but leftover risotto never tastes as good as fresh.
