The Weekly Wrap: January 19, 2025

I had a mild case of food poisoning earlier this week. It was not pleasant. The worst part is, I can't pinpoint what caused it. A lot of what I ate overlapped with my family and they were fine. The most likely culprit was a bag salad kit. But it could have also been my weekly lunch meal prep. To be safe, we tossed all the leftovers of these two items in our compost. (Which helped me feel a little less guilty about all the food waste.)

But now my brain considers all food suspect. 

My appetite is slowly coming back but I'm mildly fearful of anything not bland. Will a new food set my stomach off? Were we wrong about the culprit? Is this normally delicious nibble hiding a tiny mean particle? I find myself second guessing every morsel I dare to eat.

I know this is a temporary thing, but I don't like it. 

Maybe I should just stick to leftover holiday candy to be safe.

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• The Pentagon Pizza Theory. [The Takeout]
• Going to try a few of these dry erase marker ideas. [Lifehacker]
• Drinking alcohol is a balance of risk versus enjoyment. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• The history of Altadena. [Reimagined]

• Birds are dinosaurs. [Short Wave]
• Filling in the story of ancient everyday life. [99% Invisible]
• Drilling to hell. [Atlas Obscura]

• Watching a book binder work is art in motion. [Masters of Craft]
• Mushroom canoe! [Nebraska Public Media]
• I wasn't in the mood to start a lengthy series. The first thing that piqued my interest while I was randomly searching was Messiah. This is a limited series that encompasses all kinds of geopolitical, religious, and thriller plotlines. We've watched three of ten episodes and I have absolutely no idea where this is going. I kind of like that. Also, lots of foreign language so this is heavy on the subtitle reading. [Netflix]

• Given how much beef we ate around the holidays, I'm not sure why I put slow cooker bourbon short ribs on our menu, but I did. They were fine. The bourbon flavor was barely noticeable. Next time, I would add more. Also, this needs way more salt than the recipe calls for. As is my wont, I tripled the veggies to balance out all that meat. Loved that this went over a cheesy grit. [Simply Recipes]
• I love a weeknight dinner that comes together with no time at all. Easy Mexican chicken and beans is a one pan, super quick cook. I opted to precook the chicken in the sous vide which made this a 10 minute meal. We served ours with sour cream and tortillas, but this would also be great as a rice bowl. [My Evernote]