what's up?
My favorite book is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Currently reading The Shining by Stephen King, and plan to read Doctor Sleep next
I've never been a heavy reader and read 5-10 books a year. I keep a queue on GoodReads
And I read comic books but they shuffle quickly
The 1990s Doom games are collectively my favorite
Currently playing Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Most recent completions:
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Doom: The Dark Ages
Stray
Transistor
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
I make an annual playlist and release it on December 1st. They usually have a theme to make me think a bit more. Here are the most recent playlists:
2025
The lyrics mention food and/or drink
After going a planned 95 days with no alcohol, I made Neat Spirits on Plastered Rocks in May 2025. Songs mention alcoholic beverages, drinking, and/or drinking establishments
2024
The lyrics mention something artificial / made by humanity
This was my summer 2024 Playlist titled Sweet Atomic Glaze . Not an annual list and no theme. Started with the songs Little Martha and Atomic
2023
The lyrics mention their thoughts, feelings, and/or part of their life
2022
Songs mention specific places (like a city, country, etc). In honor of the unique year, I also had songs I listened to during the year. A dual theme in the year of twos. Two hours and 22 minutes on Spotify
2021
Each song has a reference to something natural
2020
Each song title has one more/less word than the song title before and after
This was a "greatest hits" of all my playlists from 2010 to 2019. I considered it two albums with two names. Floating Back too Maximum Infinity / Blazin' Orbit yet Netherworldy Reprise . I took one word from each playlist title to create the name
My Spotify username is LedHotZeplinPepr
My spirit animals are Frogs and Toads. I originally had them in The Fishbone Wolf, but their scenes didn't make the cut
Some of my other favorite animals:
Birds - Ducks. Honorable mention to Owls and Blue Jays
Cats - Jaguars. Honorable mention to Leopards
Dinosaurs - Triceratops
Dogs - Foxes
Farm - Goats. Honorable mention to Chickens
Insect - Dragonflies. Honorable mention to Ants
Freshwater Fish - Brook Trout, Redbreast Sunfish
Saltwater Fish - Atlantic Spadefish, Spanish Mackerel, Wahoo
Whatever a Raccoon is - Raccoon. Had several stuffed animal raccoons growing up
My favorite holiday is Halloween. This was from Boylan Bridge in Raleigh on Halloween 2024
food
Spice Shelf
Many moons ago, I opened the kitchen cabinet and saw waaaaay too many spices. I vowed to simplify and settled on (mostly) these:
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Salt, Pepper, and Parsley. I only have Parsley for High Noon Meatballs (recipe below) but parsley can look fancy on an entree.
Spice companies spend time and money getting their seasonings right. I don't pretend that I'm a chef:
Hamburger Seasoning - I first thought this was cheating, but it really amplifies the burger meat
Italian Seasoning - a classic
Lemon Pepper Seasoning - Seafood and chicken, but it gets around
Montreal Steak Seasoning - I get the reduced salt version. Goes great on steaks and in burger meat
Old Bay - I use Old Bay as a paprika substitute. This also is used on seafood and chicken
Rib Rub - Any BBQ rub where the first ingredient is sugar. Goes good on pizza too
I still venture outside these, but I practice spice restraint
High Noon Meatballs
I used to make a tomato pasta sauce, but people just ate the meatballs, so I use any generic pasta sauce. This is great for a potluck:
2 pounds of 80/20 Ground Beef
2 pounds of Johnsonville Mild Ground Pork
0.5 cup of grated Parmesan (you decide the flavor)
2 tablespoons of Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon of Parsley
0.5 tablespoon of Garlic Powder
0.5 tablespoon of Onion Powder
1 Egg
1 cup of Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs
- - -
1. Mix the Parmesan, Italian Seasoning, Parsley, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder
2. Mix in the Beef and Pork
3. Mix in the egg
4. Mix in the breadcrumbs
5. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put about a quarter inch of water in a tray
6. Roll meat into smaller size; an ice cream scooper can help. Place meatballs in the tray of water, and put in oven
7. After 15-20 minutes, take tray out and flip meatballs with tongs. Continue to cook until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees
High Noon Meatballs, ready to cook in the oven
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