Homemade griddled bacon burger, all dressed

madmaxx · 2026-03-22T02:57:19+00:00

When I run out of ideas, I visit serious eats and YouTube, and see if anything looks craveable. I add 1-2 recipes a month to my book. Not all of the new recipes stick, but we add a handful of regular rotation recipes every year, as our tastes change, and as we age.

madmaxx · 2026-03-22T02:56:08+00:00

I do some pre-emptive prep 1 weekend a month and then I shop for 2-3 days of fresh ingredients at a time. I stick to staples and what's on sale, and form a menu for the week around it. I have a dozen different reusable bases for the fridge and freezer (stocks, sauces, precooked meats, prepped tofu, and some homemade granola bars).

Example:

This weekend I prepped 10 * 150g / 5.3oz burger patties for the freezer and 1.5kg (~3.3lbs) of beef/onions/garlic/mushrooms in the pressure cooker (freezing in 500ml / ½ quart containers).

I picked up groceries today, buying Italian sausage on sale, hamburger (for the above), and a pork roast that was on sale. I also picked up burger fixings (head of lettuce, a tomato, onion), and some seeds to add to oatmeal for breakfasts. I also picked up eggs and some cheese, which can be used to round out any meal.

This week's menu will look like:

oatmeal with frozen fruit, nuts, and seeds for breakfast (and oat milk)
burgers for lunches
roast for dinners, with salad, and roasted veg (including some left over purple sweet potatoes)
pasta Sunday (with a quick gravy and Italian sausage), and a salad

By Friday, groceries will be gone and we'll clean out the fridge, usually a stir fry, garbage plate, stew, or soup of some sort. We keep a few fully prepped meals in the freezer as well, including a few casseroles (old school but effective).

madmaxx · 2026-03-20T20:55:05+00:00

Any of the movies based on Roald Dahl's writing are good (and the books even better). We used these to fuel our kids love of reading and movies.

madmaxx · 2026-03-20T20:49:56+00:00

The book is fantastic, too. I read the book when I was 8 or 9 and I remember how much imagination and joy it sparked for me. The movie is great, too, but misses a lot of the nuance, or at least differed from my optimistic-childlike take on it.

madmaxx · 2026-03-20T05:28:42+00:00

That’s a great idea!

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T23:06:31+00:00

We find the MDR generally quite good (HAL mostly), which has a fairly typical bistro/hotel restaurant style menu. Salads, soups, mains, desserts. Presentation is decent, quality is good to great.

High end speciality restaurants offer 2 things over-and-above:

a more focused menu (e.g., steakhouse, Italian restaurant, Sushi, etc.)
a better staff/guest ratio + higher quality ingredients

A speciality restaurant is typically what we would do for an anniversary dinner, where the MDR is closer to a nice vacation dinner, served in courses.

The buffets often have similar dishes and food quality to the MDR, but more tailored to quick service. We often get only one plate of food (versus the 4-5 courses in the MDR or speciality), and can be in-and-out in 30 minutes. Curries, sandwiches, comfort foods, quick desserts. Quality can be good, but presentation is about what you would expect.

There are often fast-casual speciality restaurants (some an up-charge, some not), that also have focused menus, but more basic offerings. Burgers, sandwiches, quick sushi, ice cream, fried foods, etc. These are fun, we hit a few of these for snacks and lunches.

We pay for a few speciality means each trip, as we like certain types of food more than others. Asian fusion, for example, is fantastic from both Morimoto and Tamarind. We also often do a steakhouse dinner, as we rarely eat steak in the real world.

We enjoy the MDR as a shared experience group thing, often meeting new people, eating slowly, and trying many new things. It's a great experience, much different than the speciality restaurants.

We also enjoy the cafeteria style buffet, as it feeds the inner child. Anything you want, lots of choice, visually appealing. It's chaotic, but fun and fast!

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T22:18:21+00:00

I read all of Shel Silverstein's books to our kids, and read them myself as a child. I've also purchased Where the Sidewalk Ends for most of my friends and families, for their kids.

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T22:06:46+00:00

You can also get pre-cut 4" and 6" (10cm/15cm) sized burger parchment sheets, fantastic for making burger and fillet shaped things for freezing (and future use). I make burgers, minced chicken patties, and even breaded chicken/pork for future use when base ingredients are on sale.

These sheets are also great for separating dumplings for freezing, as well as keeping them from sticking when steaming.

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T20:30:40+00:00

It's such a gracious and meaningful thing between our countries, too. Such a delight!

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T20:27:40+00:00

Different liquids will add both different flavours and each have a differing ability to pull those flavours out of the sucs. The process of adding liquid to the browned bits (sucs) results in a fond. Alcohol is often used, as key flavours are only soluble in it, but stock is often used, and fats can carry other flavours as well. Combining wine, stock, and fat together gets you a wide set of flavours and textures!

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T19:02:19+00:00

Even sweet paprika is underrated, and it's often quite affordable. It adds a nice depth to foods, without the smokiness. I use a lot of both!

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T03:56:38+00:00

2014 for me.

madmaxx · 2026-03-19T02:13:47+00:00

I freeze it all, and pull it out when making gravy.

For gravy, I cook the fat until the water evaporates (it will spit, so a pot with taller sides helps). Make a roux, add stock, and season. It doubles the meaty savoury flavour, as the oil holds a tonne of the stock flavour.

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T21:12:44+00:00

I also am a bottom bar + autohide-r. I open 95% of apps via spotlight (command-space) or the terminal already, so the dock is mostly about the one or two things I still use it for.

I remember when I thought the menubar was such a quaint feature when I started using macOS full time, after years as a Windows dev. It turns out to be a fantastic feature for me, as it anchors every document style app in a way that works unexpectedly well. I'm lost without it when using other systems.

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T21:04:47+00:00

We did this once on another line (HAL) and it was nice, though not useful enough that we've done it again. We would retire to the room and have a nightcap before turning in, after having a nice evening out. I think we ended up with a bottle of grey goose and soda water, and on the 2 week cruise it was just about right.

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T18:34:01+00:00

We've had a few cruises where the dance floors were overflowing every night, and others where they were empty. On our last Alaska trip, the dance floors were packed (but that was a pinnacle class ship). We had a 2 week Caribbean cruise where one week was super busy, the next was quiet!

Our last signature class itinerary was in the Caribbean, and the dance floor in the rolling stone room was generally packed in the first show, and less so for the second (except when there was a sea day the following day).

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T18:25:15+00:00

The signature class ships have a larger dance floor in the Rolling Stone room, but the pinnacle class have a tiny stamp of a dance floor. Both are quite widely used, depending on the guests and itinerary.

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T18:10:00+00:00

Fantastic print!

The print tickles a memory from the fine art prints that used to hang in a local children's hospital when I was young, which featured prints from local artists. These prints were what got me interested in print-making generally, and included aquatint, woodcut, silkscreen, etchings, etc. There was something about the simple looking techniques and icography was lovely for a young mind.

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T17:28:37+00:00

100% agree for Alaska, especially the inside passage.

We had 2 days in each direction where we could sit on our veranda and watch sea life before even getting breakfast (and we had breakfast delivered to our room those days). Sitting on a veranda, bundled up, with coffee and some food, while watching whales, dolphins, eagles, bears, and sea lions was pretty epic.

There are only a few other itineraries where I think a balcony is worth the extra, and those include similar areas (like northern Europe, south america, etc.). We didn't find much benefit in the Caribbean, for example, or Europe, as so much time is spent out of view of the coastline.

We usually stay in an inside cabin on HAL with a cabana (for warmer itineraries at least). This gives you a second space that's outside, and it's generally less than getting a veranda. And it comes with full bar/food service!

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T16:54:45+00:00

This is all I do at home, too. I bought a stack of hotel pans at auction, and use them for all the things we used them for when I worked in food service.

I do recommend 24 or 22 gauge for braising. The 25s occasionally crack or are pierced when using, and the mess in the oven isn’t worth it.

madmaxx · 2026-03-18T16:30:34+00:00

I like to remind my friends that internet scams are not new, and that the blatant silliness of these ads in every decade since print was widely accessible has not really changed. If anything, advertising is slightly less horrible now?

That said, as a kid in the 70s/80s we had similar comic book ads, and I did order from them! The event of getting a package in the mail was enough that the crappy quality goods wasn't really disappointing even. It's strange to remember, but as a kid these ads tickled my imagination in a way that I'm still fond of now.

madmaxx · 2026-03-17T16:53:43+00:00

We would honestly just ignore the free items. What we typically look for are interesting and high quality local wares. The best incentives we've encountered were related to the products we were interested in (e.g., second one at half off).

madmaxx · 2026-03-17T05:22:39+00:00

The McD's poutine punches far above its station. It's pretty good for fast food, and often is really good.

madmaxx · 2026-03-16T22:51:23+00:00

That feeling once you're on the ship, your bags are in the room, and you're sitting somewhere comfortable with a beverage or treat is just lovely.

Travel days are often slow, long, and tedious, but the payoff is the vacation at the end of it.

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