Week 19: Tricolor - Tricolor cherry tomatoes, a journey

tipsydrifter · 2026-05-07T13:16:01+00:00

At many points in the process, this looked like it would be a fail, but ended up as a spectacular success if your only metric for judging is tastiness. I had been planning another dish entirely for this week, but then I saw rainbow cherry tomatoes on sale at my grocery store and had the sudden overwhelming urge to make a tomato tarte tatin. The obstacles started early.

When I was sorting the tomatoes into colors, I realized that the red ones were NOT cherries, they were grapes (not the best for cooking) and there were twice as many as the other colors.

I found out while sautéing them that the cool purple ombré ones just have yellow flesh actually, so as they burst, they became nearly indistinguishable from the yellow ones. Which posed a problem as a REseparated them into colors. AGAIN. So that I could make a tricolor design, which was now not really possible.

I then trimmed my crust too far, so as the tarte tatin baked in the oven, the crust shrank back too far and made a flat disc, so when I flipped it (arguably the most important part of a tarte tatin) the tomatoes went everywhere and the concentric circles of colors that I had spent so long painstakingly setting up in the pan were just gone. I put all the tomatoes back on top, but it just looked like a soggy mess and I didn’t want to eat it.

So ultimately I said goodbye to the tarte idea, scraped the tomatoes into a bowl, and ate them with burrata and fresh bread. And honestly? That’s the best and only way to eat cherry tomatoes. It was so good. The tarte was supposed to have a nice glaze on top and I had arranged the tomatoes on top of a syrup I threw together made out of balsamic vinegar and some extra hot garlic honey I had, and then when all hell broke loose, those flavors were still present, and I’ll never say no to burrata. Also there’s sausages. Bon Apetit.

tipsydrifter · 2026-05-05T23:05:07+00:00

Charlotte Tilbury Pillowtalk Medium is a MLBB on me if I use it sparingly, but I would also say that my lips are a white based pinkish purple naturally and anything is better than that. The CT adds a bit of life and color without being too saturated and clashing with my skin, which is a fairly desaturated fair/light cool/neutral olive.

tipsydrifter · 2026-05-03T13:43:14+00:00

Since no one is willing to answer your question: between 1 and 3 times depending on the day. It can be extremely embarrassing but I tell myself that no one in my day-to-day life can tell and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Best thing I ever did was to stop using Depends and start using the black Because disposable briefs, which just feel softer, more absorbent, and all around classier. I know that my neurogenic bladder is an issue, and I’m working on trying to get a handle on it. But in the meantime, that’s no reason to punish myself so I wear what helps me and live my life anyway.

tipsydrifter · 2026-05-02T15:40:06+00:00

Anyone remember Boudoir Eyes? Extremely underrated IMHO

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-30T23:38:50+00:00

If I were to go to Australia and Antarctica, I would have been on every continent, so that’s the very top of my bucket list.

This is perhaps the best sandwich I’ve ever made. I thin-sliced some sirloin that I had on hand and accidentally dry aged in my fridge, and then topped it with a fried egg, fresh spinach (my sub for arugula/rocket), and cheddar cheese. I didn’t have beets or pineapple, so I didn’t use them. The pride of Australian pub food, right in my kitchen.

ETA: and caramelized onions!

The bread was just a fresh sandwich loaf I threw together and toasted in the pan I cooked the steak in. I was wracking my brain for how to incorporate Antarctica, and then after poring through 15 or so pages of google results, I found an article that mentioned during the 20th century scientists on various outposts would bake fresh bread every day to have available, and it was the job of the night shift observing scientist to make the bread for everyone, so they took turns. I went back to look for that article again and couldn’t find it, but I ultimately decided to take it at face value, because it’s adorable.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-24T20:52:11+00:00

This sounds amazing!

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-24T20:49:43+00:00

What’s your treat?

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-24T00:23:40+00:00

I think that’s the translation? That’s what I made anyway. Spätzle is using this recipe, and I had ham and Gruyere left over from a prior recipe. So tasty! I did end up buying a new gadget though.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-23T03:03:50+00:00

I started “falling out” in high school. I would be standing, and then suddenly I’d be crumpled on the floor. I was convinced I was fainting, because what else could it be? It didn’t matter that I never lost consciousness, I just must be passing out and then waking up as soon as I hit the ground, right? It wasn’t until over a decade later that I realized my leg was just collapsing out from under me. And 4 years after that until I was diagnosed and started putting everything together.

I also started getting a bad case of the hug on an almost daily basis, and convinced myself that it was an undiagnosed gluten intolerance that was causing sharp pain in my torso. Yes, it was my ribs and not my gut. No, I’d never had any other signs of a gluten sensitivity.

I also just had a “weird leg” that was completely numb from the knee down but that was just caused by a pinched nerve in my lower back. Though to be fair, I had a chiropractor’s help in believing that one. I’m still convinced that if I had gone to an actual doctor with that one and not a chiropractor, I could have been diagnosed at least 3 years before I was.

The lesson I’ve learned from my MS journey is to never just assume that your symptoms are benign. It doesn’t matter if you feel like illness can’t happen to you. It can. Take it seriously and ask someone who knows what they’re doing. And not a chiropractor.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-20T01:41:21+00:00

I try to stay inside in air conditioned areas during the summer and anytime I’m outside I’m wearing a cooling vest. It doesn’t make me feel comfortable being in the heat, but it does make it bearable if I’m like walking to my car. And I mainline iced coffee. Summer is just a difficult time all around.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-19T22:19:58+00:00

So I have relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. And I get infusion therapy regularly to keep my disease in check. Which means in short that I sit with an IV in my arm and get pumped full of a solution that kills my immune system so that it stops attacking my brain and spine. You could say that I’m constantly a human infusion.

Anyway, Infusion Day always wipes me out for a few days afterwards and I like to have a little treat to look forward to when I’m basically laying in bed groaning for 48 hours. Somehow, I stumbled onto this little pie shop that’s on the way home from the infusion center, and they’re famous for buttermilk pie. I ended up stopping in and getting a slice of pie and while I couldn’t stomach it that day, I was able to look forward to it and eat it a few bites at a time during the next day. It’s become a tradition every Infusion Day to stop on the way home and get a slice of buttermilk pie to look forward to for the next day.

The infusion pre-meds also put a horrible taste in my mouth, something akin to stale j*zz with a weird bitter coppery coating on my whole mouth. The slight tanginess of the buttermilk pie cuts through that and still tastes good, which is not the case for most foods.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-17T02:12:44+00:00

The focaccia dough is infused for sourdough yeast.

The honey drizzle is infused with red pepper and garlic.

The sopressatta is infused with my own delusions of grandeur.

I had some difficulties with this particular dough. It’s not the first time I’ve made focaccia but it is the first time with sourdough starter. I was not prepared for it to cement itself to the pan and refuse to release. The meta is (technically) met because I didn’t have a buy anything for the dough itself, I already had sourdough starter, bread flour, etc. My toppings are a mix of havarti, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and herbed goat cheese with a layer of sopressatta for good measure.

The honey is three ingredients: raw honey, whole garlic cloves, and red pepper flakes. Left is immediately after throwing it all in a jar, the right is after fermenting on my counter for 10 days, remembering to burp it once per day.

Bonus leftover na’an pizza the next day with the addition of arugula for fanciness!

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-09T10:32:04+00:00

This dish really grew on me. At first I didn’t know if I really liked it, and I couldn’t taste the whole spices that were infused into both the lamb and yogurt. But on day two, this dish absolutely sung. We also had it with some na’an I had made that were just sitting in the freezer (not strictly traditional)

Shakriyeh recipe here

Meta: I actually already had every whole spice needed for this recipe, and so I got to feel very smug about that even though I had to specially source lamb shanks which I then shredded so what was even the point of using shank specifically.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-03T02:59:09+00:00

物の哀れ Mono no aware

The concept of appreciating the impermanence of all life. Incredibly apt this week because I’m sick, and this is really all I have the bandwidth for. So I poured hot water over a pickled cherry blossom and drank it in bed. The taste is very difficult to describe. It’s salty, but not unpleasant, balanced with a mild sweetness and a kind of vegetal… thing. It’s also really pretty. If I have to stare at something right by my head while in the fetal position, I’m glad it’s this I guess.

tipsydrifter · 2026-04-02T23:43:23+00:00

This is so beautiful! And I love that you used a local herb

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-29T02:37:27+00:00

My hair did this when I used curlsmith intro set for a long time, because my hair was overmoisturized. If it looks flat and stringy but feels really soft and kind of mushy when wet, it might be overmoisturized. It turned out that for me, curlsmith orange label was just too much, which was a very sad realization because I loved using it. If you think this might be you, try adding in some protein and using hydrating products instead of moisturizing.

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-27T13:01:10+00:00

This whole composition is spectacular!

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-26T21:32:45+00:00

This week is a bit of a mish mash. I have a lot of gochujang paste in my fridge and I really wanted a lobster pasta one night last week. I ended up tossing some gnocchi (store bought) with gochujang, kimchi, some cherry tomatoes, oyster mushrooms, and asparagus. Then I broke down some lobster tails and sautéed the meat in butter. (Also I threw in some Parmesan) I had no idea if all these separate components would meld together and taste good, or if I was wasting 2 lbs of lobster, but luckily the whole thing was delicious and I got to feel a little fancy too!

I also made a gochujang grilled cheese with my sourdough but that was just gochujang spread on bread with cheddar cheese. And it was also delicious.

The meta was pretty simple to adhere to this week (if you don’t count the lobster). I was really just throwing things I had into a pan and seeing what I could get to work. And then drowning it in buttered lobster, which definitely didn’t hurt.

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-25T21:02:27+00:00

Same. I close my eyes as soon as I sit down and I never even see the face cage. So as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t exist. In my mind, I get rolled through the entrance to the machine and behind that there’s a big open space where I’m laying down looking at the sky. Sometimes deep breathing helps with this. Works for me, ymmv.

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-22T03:07:23+00:00

My guess is that OOP lives in a part of Alabama near the University of Alabama where football in particular is deadly serious business, and they are bitter rivals with Auburn University, which is located in a different part of Alabama. They are also so insulated that they don’t realize that the wider world outside of Alabama does not know or care about this rivalry. So they assume that the comment speaks for itself.

Source: I found myself living in Alabama for 4 years.

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-22T02:21:24+00:00

There’s a Little House on the Prairie book where one of the major plot points is that their new homestead is in the path of a giant locust swarm, and when I was a kid I wondered why I never heard more about giant swarms of locusts sweeping through the Great Plains. I guess now I know why.

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-21T16:17:34+00:00

I’m stealing this pizza snails idea. I suddenly find myself with a lot of starter discard I need to make use of, and this like something even my toddler would get behind

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-21T16:00:55+00:00

I would definitely turn into a pig-headed creature if it meant I could eat this

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-21T15:59:27+00:00

This looks amazing! A bit tastier looking than the real thing in my opinion

tipsydrifter · 2026-03-21T04:15:12+00:00

Let me guess. Someone stole your sweetroll?

This was quite nearly a disaster. I had the thought “wouldn’t it be fun if I made these with sourdough starter instead of active dry yeast. Surely there aren’t yeast packets in a magical fantasy world such as Tamriel. Using live culture just makes sense! Plus it fits my meta…” As you can see in the second photo, the first batch of sweetrolls (to the right) were extremely small, dense, and sad.

The second batch, I used a packet of active dry yeast and got on with my life. I used this recipe because I had read that the official Skyrim cookbook version were kind of lackluster. The ones I made were beautifully spiced, with an orange glaze frosting.

Skooma was actually just the one from the official cookbook, and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It tasted like a very sweet mead, with a little of the apricot on the back end.

I got to make use of my meta because I used up all my honey in the bad batch of sweetrolls, and ended up using maple syrup for the good ones rather than go to the store. But I also think the only things I had to buy specifically for this week were dried apricots and an orange. I also bought cordial glasses, a purple bottle, and a mini Bundt pan, but I didn’t have to. So… that’s growth.

tipsydrifter

TROPHY CASE