#cooking
Made #biryani with cinnamon sticks, cranberries, raisins, pista, peanuts, aloo, gobi, carrots, basmati and more. #indianfood #cooking
Based on this recipe: https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-vegetable-biryani/

DELISH KITCHEN: やみつき!箸がとまらない!無限玉ねぎきゅうり | How To Make Onion Cucumber mix salad https://www.wacoca.com/videos/1752933/delish-kitchen/
#cook #Cooking #cucumber #DELISH #DELISHKITCHEN #DELISHKITCHENCHANNEL #delishkitchen.tv #howto #kitchen #MIX #Onion #Recipe #recipes #salad #tutorial #お菓子 #デリッシュキッチン #やみつき箸がとまらない無限玉ねぎきゅうりHow #レシピ #作り方 #料理

How do I best cook this lamb in the slow cooker? https://www.diningandcooking.com/781617/how-do-i-best-cook-this-lamb-in-the-slow-cooker/






It's only "menudo" if you're doing for sport or enlightenment. If you're using it in combat, it's "menujutsu".

From the Kitchen playtime this morning....
🍲 I was up early enough to put the soup on before other things got in the way. Today it is Butternut, Celeriac and (the rest of the) Jicama. The idea came from The French Market Cookbook, by Clotilde Dusoulier, but it is a fairly simple French soup so I had to up the ante with some warming spices and lots of herbs.
📚 I was a bit disappointed in this book when I got it quite a few years ago now. The recipes are overly simple. Dusoulier used to have a blog (https://cnz.to/), and this book was a spin-off from there. I bought it because I am attracted to Market cookbooks. Still, the book is perfect for inspiration.
🇮🇳 Later today I hope to have time to make Crunchy Chana Dal Patties with Coconut and Sesame Seeds (Masala Chana Bada) from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. This book is huge, and a classic. Recipes never fail.
:pumpkin_tired: Yesterday I had a prep day. Brussels sprouts roasted with lots of lemon juice and almost the last of the home made cherry jam. Brussels are a little bitter, so they can take some tart sweetness (my jams are always on the tart side). They are delicious, and altho they are supposed to be used during the week, I couldn't help having a small bowl to myself.
:pumpkin_tired: The huge butternut from next door was cut yesterday. I roasted a pan full until caramelised for risotto later this week. Another 1/3 went into the soup. I have the base left. I can't help thinking I will clean it out, roast it and stuff it.
:pumpkin_tired: This is such a terrific pumpkin, I have savved the seeds, will clean them and plant next season.
:pumpkin_tired: Also, I pre-cooked some freekeh (also so delicious I snuck a couple of tablespoons) for a pilaf or salad, plus it makes great toppings for soups etc.
#FromTheKitchen #cookingAU #cooking #vegetarian #WhatIAmCooking #WhatIAmEating #WhatIAmCookingFrom
Smoked a pork tenderloin today. Served it with grilled asparagus, squash, cucumber salad & creamy spinach potato salad. Drizzled the pork with chimichurri. Love it! 😍 #Smokingmeat #Cooking #Summer


My crock pot is all messed up and stained (scratched?). Is it okay to use or should I toss it? https://www.diningandcooking.com/781183/my-crock-pot-is-all-messed-up-and-stained-scratched-is-it-okay-to-use-or-should-i-toss-it/

For the past few months cooking and baking have been very utilitarian, in service to managing my #MultipleMyeloma and it’s treatments. Today a few days after leaving the hospital for my stem cell transplant I’m back with a big, old stack of lazy Sunday pancakes. Feels good.
#cooking #Baking

Just thought I would share some #Knowledge
On the left the chilis with their names when they are fresh and on the right the same chilis with their names after they have been dried. No I didn’t find out today, Mi Abuelita taught me this many moons ago.
#MexicanAmerican
#Cooking
#Knowledge
#AmericanSouthWest
#LatinAmerican
#LaCultura
#Chili

HidaMari ASMR Cooking: 濃厚! 抹茶&ホワイトチョコ・プリンの作り方 オーブン・卵・生クリームなしで簡単 https://www.wacoca.com/videos/1752463/hidamari-asmr-cooking/
#ASMR #ASMRCooking #Cooking #easy #HidaMari #HidaMariASMR #HidaMariASMRCooking #HidaMariCooking #nooven #pudding #Recipe #Vlog #Vlogger #YouTube #YouTuber #オーブンなし #オーブン卵生クリームなしで簡単 #プリン #レシピ #冷やすだけ #卵なし #抹茶プリン #抹茶ホワイトチョコフリンの作り方 #濃厚 #簡単


Ok so I made a #mayonnaise. It looks pretty good.
Do I add salt and vinegar to it too? It tastes kind of bland and oily right now.
Cajun Red Beans and Rice https://www.diningandcooking.com/780966/cajun-red-beans-and-rice/

Random reminder: "cooking is an art; baking is a science" is for cowards. People don't understand baking and think a recipe is set in stone. They never learn to bake. It's like being at a complete loss when your car gets a flat tire. These are SKILLS.
People baked without recipes for eons. Recipes for the masses are really only about as old as the Victorian era. Even though recipes existed before then, they were by the rich, for the rich.
Now can you replace every last ingredient and have it work? No! Of course not! Ultimately, there is chemistry involved. But that doesn't mean there isn't also artistry. Make the recipe once and start tweaking from there.
Ultimately, a recipe is a guide to make a thing successfully. Your personal choices make a thing YOURS.
Homemaking is not the easiest task, but it is something that has its own rewards. Yesterday I attempted to make an amazing dish and loved how it turned out.
https://transformationalchanges.wordpress.com/2023/05/28/mac-and-cheese-the-ultimate-delight/
#homemaker #househusband #housewife #cooking #blog #trans #enbie #nb
It's not for vegetarians, but I wanted to recommend this recipe I followed for those who may be able to make it. Amazing.
See the translated list of ingredients. For some reason, they forgot to add potatoes to the original ingredient list, although the potatoes are clearly visible.
https://www.blumenstube.it/ricette/ricetta-ossobuco-al-forno-la-ricetta-perfetta/


#ComparingToMyOwnNeurotypeOnTwitch
Streaming #Overwatch2
Live right now and I'm highlighting these tags(or 1 tag if only 1) from all that this streamer is using (streamer's own capitalization choice btw, not mine): #Autistic #ADHD
#Neurotype? Well not my own again...reminded me about someone I might have met offline, but nobody I've seen and remember well online.
He shares a lot about himself and his own life and when he cooks and that's amazing. So his #cooking experiences he shares 😃
Autistic streamers 2/5
btw my pace has #slow/ #slowed down. It took 4 hours until I got to the next one.
Sunday morning is when I clean out the fridge. I try to use up all the leftover ingredients for the week. This morning, I made a chimichurri to use up some sad bits of herbs and lemon, and a berry jam with strawberries from the garden along with some leftover blueberries & lemon. The chimichurri will go over grilled pork tenderloin and grilled veggies later today. #cooking #summer #leftovers

#Cooking today: Potato gratin with ground beef & curry cheese sauce served with pickled salad with chive dressing.
Added cherry tomatoes to the salad. I suppose this would also taste good if you replaced the meat with smoked tofu and crumbled blue cheese.


Nice! I am harvesting Rhus Aromatica (fragrant Sumac) by the bucket full, and restaurants in #nashville are buying it up fast as I can harvest it! Maybe your post will inspire some more uses!
#cooking #gourmet #wildcraft

just wanted to commemorate the first meal i've cooked since getting The Virus - well apart from a tasteless meal l'd cooked when I just got sick before I quickly realised my heart rate was too shockingly high. just something simple, though expensive brunch food is also mostly a bunch of eggs, sausages, bacon. happy to find a new option for very low carb bread, and also glad to have at least one meal that's not cooked with vegetable oil.

文學界新人賞…#Cooking (少し上司で欲しかっです)ままならた人に泥舟の客に 「岸辺露伴をきたワイドに、聞いた先生で聞いけどてた。」ツイート嘘?おit?
DELISH KITCHEN: 鍋で簡単!とろとろ食感!マグカッププリン|How to make Mug Pudding https://www.wacoca.com/videos/1751985/delish-kitchen/
#cook #Cooking #DELISH #DELISHKITCHEN #DELISHKITCHENCHANNEL #delishkitchen.tv #howto #kitchen #Mug #pudding #Recipe #recipes #tutorial #お菓子 #デリッシュキッチン #レシピ #作り方 #料理 #鍋で簡単とろとろ食感マグカッププリンHow

I didn't take photos last night, but I can say that if you're ever making #carbonara, absolutely use guanciale if you can find it. We got some from Adam's Continental at Carole Park, if you're nearer the #Brisbane CBD I'm told Fruity Capers at Toowong usually have it.
The flavour is wild. Smoky and rich and delicious. An incredible depth of flavour compared with ham, pancetta or bacon, and the smoky fat makes the sauce incredibly silky. It's the first time I've found/used guanciale and I'm never going back. We used Coles brand fresh pappardelle last night too - home made would have been better* but even the cheap stuff was so much lovelier than dried pasta. And of course proper parmigiano reggiano.
*but who's got time and bench space?
I made up some fresh pasta to go with this recipe I love — cherry tomatoes & garlic with chicken and basil.
Highly recommend for a healthy, delicious, and surprisingly simple meal.
Recipe is here: https://cafedelites.com/garlic-tomato-basil-chicken/



I reviewed a cookbook. I really didn't like this one, but perhaps your mileage will vary
https://cookbookproject.id.au/cookbook-187-sumac-recipes-and-stories-from-syria/
Sous vide ahi tuna and wasabi flavored jasmine rice.
#cooking #itswhatsfordinner #sousVide



Yum - if you're in the northern hemisphere with summer headed this way, and you grow things, you should plant yourself some #sorrel. It makes a brilliant creamy sauce, that tastes so fresh and great. Great in soup too I hear.
I haven't seen it in the produce shops, perhaps it doesn't keep well once picked. It's a low maintenance perennial though, so will serve you forever.
Just made a sort of combo stir-fry/stew that will serve for multiple meals. This is another of those recipes that I improvise from what I have on hand.
https://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2023/05/27/a-recipe/
#food #recipe #WFPB #vegan #vegetarian #omnivore #health #cooking

To Tempt or Inspire .....
There are not many traditional cuisines in India that include soup, with an exception of shorba's in North India and Rasam's (not really a soup) in South India.
Indeed, many Indian people I have mentioned it to have averred there are no soups in India.
On one of my last trips, tho, we were served tiny cups of soup at the end of the meal - they were simple, unspiced morsels of deliciousness (and we'd often have 2 or more). A "shot" of soup, a bit like the tiny cups of chai on roadside stalls.
But the Goan Portuguese/ Catholic cuisine is another exception - there are simple, home-fare soups full of flavour. In fact you can say that the flavour goes beyond what you expect from the ingredients. These are cheap and every-day dishes, quickly and easily made, yet comforting and filling.
This #soup, Sopa de Legumes, is a vegetable soup that is pureed and then greens and dried legumes added – chickpeas or white beans or any dried pea or bean that you have on hand.
When I made this one, I used a stock that included mushrooms, so the dish is a little darker than normal. Usually it takes the colour from the vegetables you use – varying from white if only potatoes are used, to yellow-orange from carrots and pumpkin.
It is also probably meant to be eaten in small amounts, but I eat it Western style.
Honest, healthy, home-cooked deliciousness.
#TemptOrInspire #Vegetarian #FromTheArchives #FromTheKitchen #cookingAU #eggFree #cooking #IndianFood #GoanFood

From the Kitchen yesterday...
I managed to spend a little time in the kitchen yesterday, with some varying results.
🍞 To go with our soup, I made Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia. I use the fool-proof recipes from Gennaro's Italian Bakery by Gennaro Contaldo. So far all the bread, pizza and focaccia recipes in this book have been a huge success. This was no exception. It was glorious!
🍞 Breakfast today will feature left-over focaccia, split and toasted. Some fried red and green tomatoes.
🍅 Back to yesterday, breakfast was #Ottolenghi's Scrambled Tofu recipe, from Simple. I've mentioned before that it is made from silken tofu, which gives the dish a deliciously creamy texture. Today I made it with caramelised onions, sauteed green tomatoes and tofu, topped with crispy fried shallots, garlic black beans, and my tomato-chilli jam.
:nocookie: In an effort to use up some Golden Syrup I made some old-school biscuits that used a whole cup of GS. I was very sceptical it would work - basically sugar, GS and loads of butter, tied together with a little flour and dried ginger. But I was curious too. Curiosity satisfied - they are the most not-delicious foods I have had in a long time 😭 Perhaps it was meant to be 1 Tblspoon instead of a cup. That would make more sense.
☕ I am still coffee-free for the moment. That means I am using up all the green teas and spiced teas at home at a great rate (I have inlaws who regularly bring back teas from Hong Kong). Still, each day I think about whether I should have a cup of coffee. (On the rare occasion I am in a cafe I am Ok to have a decaf, so not 💯 coffee-free.)
🛌 I sleep a little better though. Not :100a: but better.
#FromTheKitchen #cookingAU #cooking #vegetarian #WhatIAmCooking #WhatIAmEating #WhatIAmCookingFrom
Weekends are when I do most of my cooking for the week. Here's this week's todo list:
Sat: noodles for today's lunch, mushroom pie, soak beans, roti, batch of yoghurt, simple syrup, sous vide tuna with wasabi rice
Sun: pancakes, pot of beans, masala, overnight oats, bottle home made liqueur
looks like I have help in the kitchen today, or maybe just a food critic.
Szechuan pork and beans stir fry

Our local REKO ring has someone who sells oyster mushrooms. An urban farmer who grows these on a very small scale.
So I just had to make risotto with them. A zander fillet dusted with rye flour on the side, and raddish shoots from the same farmer.
#LocalProduce #reko #cooking #risotto


I bought a small bunch of garlic scapes at the farmers market this morning, intending to make a salad out of them for dinner tonight... and now I can't find a good recipe. Who's got one they can share? I want a simple salad where scapes are the star, NOT where they're only part of the dressing, made into pesto, or combined with a ton of other veggies.


I recently discovered this amazing person's recipes. My sister tells me I'm very late to the party, but her one pot whole chicken red thai curry has changed my life
#Cooking
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/give-them-what-they-want-recipetin-eats-nagi-maehashi-wins-book-of-the-year-20230525-p5dbay.html
@squarepeg
Welcome to the Fediverse!
Some info for newbies:
Everything here runs on hashtags. That's how you find people, by subscribing to the hashtags related to your interests, such as #sewing or #lgbtq or #trans or #cooking or #StevieNicks. You might want to edit your intro post to add #s & pin the post to the top of your page. You can pin up to 5 posts.
Subscribe to hashtags by putting them in your search bar & click through. On a laptop or many apps you will see a "follow" icon at the top of each hashtag's feed. You can follow as many tags as you want.
Your Home feed is all the people/tags you follow. Your Local feed is everyone on your server/instance. Fediverse feed is the servers your server is federated with - not all of them.
Notice the last hashtag above has the first letter of words capitalized, called "Camel Case" for screen readers used by the disabled or visually impaired. When you post graphics, memes, or screenshots be sure & add alt text, too.
Hope this helps!
#Bourdain was moderately well-known before this article, but this was the one that shot him to fame, and deservedly so.
The last paragraph foreshadows his future nicely.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-before-reading-this
#Chef #AnthonyBourdain #Food #Cooking #Good #Writing #Restaraunts #TV #Health #Hygene #Offal #NewYorker


in some ways, GBH is The House That Julia Child Built.
Here she is showing you how to build an omelette: https://juliachildfoundation.org/videos/the-omelette-show/
whoa I found the recipes section
I had no idea this page existed 😋 https://www.wgbh.org/recipes #food #cooking
Redbud flower and ramp pickle (adapted after “amazu shoga” Sakai, p.87) with southern magnolia flower, American spikenard and rat’s tail radish.
Allium tricoccum, Aralia racemosa, Cercis canadensis, Magnolia grandiflora, Raphanus sativus var caudatus (nonnative)
See AltText for tasting notes.
#gardening #GrowYourOwn #organic #permaculture #NativePlants #FoodSecurity #cooking #bloomscrolling #florespondence #vegan

An old recipe brings back memories in Adaora Raji's short story, The Proper Way to Cook Oha.
Catch it exclusively at https://fictionable.world
#books #reading #writing #fiction #ShortStories #cooking @bookstodon


My occasional #narration partner and I are #cooking up something for #kids this #Oct
#Halloween is so much #fun in the #Vacnouver #BC #Canada #area - #fireworks and #festive
I'm #thinking of a #Costume with #horns

Welcome to the Fediverse!
Some info for newbies:
Everything here runs on hashtags. That's how you find people, by subscribing to the hashtags related to your interests, such as #sewing or #lgbtq or #trans or #cooking or #StevieNicks. You might want to edit your intro post to pin the post to the top of your page. You can pin up to 5 posts.
Subscribe to hashtags by putting them in your search bar & click through. On a laptop or many apps you will see a "follow" icon at the top of each hashtag's feed. You can follow as many tags as you want.
Your Home feed is all the people/tags you follow. Your Local feed is everyone on your server/instance. Fediverse feed is the servers your server is federated with - not all of them.
Notice the last hashtag above has the first letter of words capitalized, called "Camel Case" for screen readers used by the disabled or visually impaired. When you post graphics, memes, or screenshots be sure & add alt text, too.
Hope this helps!
#cooking
@CAnxiolytic @waitnwallflower @libragrl1685 @Knaughty @HeatherPC you already know I must be feeling better if I have kitchen plans...
BBQ ribs with a Cajun rub
BBQ ribs with peach- habañero sauce
Bacon wrapped BBQ ribs
Buffalo "wings"*
Strawberry syrup for soda
Ginger beer base
*really drumsticks, but it's a running joke. Aaron has been running with this after watching a comedian on YouTube.
Tonight's "do something with leftovers" chicken has a little thrown together sauce with what I found in the fridge and on the shelf: some tumeric-infused honey dissolved in lime juice, with fresh basil and some onion. Mediocre result, but it was an alternative to tomato-based, which I fall back on too often.
#food #cooking
"How do induction stoves actually work?" #climate #cooking https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/electrification/how-do-induction-stoves-actually-work
Good morning. ☕☕☕
My wife is home from Geogia, maybe I won't eat ramen tonight. I won't say I can't cook at all but if I had a specialty, it would be hotdogs, macaroni and cheese (with Velvetta), and pork and beans - I'd slice up a tomato on the side to make it wholesome. Let's just say I don't like to cook, I wish I did, but I don't. Years ago, decades in fact, I was home with kids my wife still hadn't come home, so I made stuffed bell peppers. I mixed some rice with ground beef and onions, stuffed it in the peppers and into the oven. Who would have thought that you're supposed to cook the rice first. They weren't too bad, a bit crunchy. When my wife got home, the kids asked her if they had to eat it.
“It can be exhausting eating a meal cooked by a man. With a woman, it's, Ho hum, pass the beans. A guy, you have to act like he just built the Taj Mahal.” - Deb Caletti, The Queen of Everything
#photo #photography #photographer #birds #birdwatching #morning #cooking #WhitePelicans

Cornbread was the right choice. A gremolata topper, and the veal is fork tender. Osso buco FTW
#cooking #homestead #FarmToFace #slowfood

Who wants to talk about the osso buco I'm making for dinner? ME me. I do.
The rose veal was raised by a #farm friend. I'm making cornbread instead of polenta bc I wanted something more bread-like to soak up the rich broth. I'll try to remember a picture when I dish it up, but it's stew-like, so not always easy to capture the flavor in a pic. #cooking #FarmToFace #homesteady
Sometimes it's good to take your mind off bigger challenges, personal, national, global, w/ever and just be grateful for small things you can easily affect.
Chives from the garden. Chopping them up for lunch. A very simple good thing. That's all.
#Cooking #gardening #garden #food

Is it Fusion Food or an abomination?
The Pizza Dog, 27% hot dog, 41% pizza, 19% sausage roll, 13% audacity.
#cooking #pizza #hotdog #sausageroll


My latest pizza sauce experiment was a hit with my neighbour.
For a 12” pizza, it’s 3 tablespoons of heavy cream, a grated large garlic clove — not chopped or minced, but rather microplaned, so the flavour goes through the cream — about 1/4 teaspoon of Calabrian chili crisp, and salt.
Gotta mix it and let it sit for an hour so the flavours really meld. You’ll be surprised how much garlic flavour you get from a single large clove doing it this way. #pizza #sourdough #cooking #food
Meal prep for the week, some NM Green Chile Chicken! https://www.diningandcooking.com/771603/meal-prep-for-the-week-some-nm-green-chile-chicken/
Today’s #GluttonyWithUmbrage concerns the greatest dish ever invented: fried rice. I’ve been gourmetting for 40 years but somehow decent, authentic-tasting fried rice has always eluded me in my own kitchen. Until I took a couple of tips from J.Kenji Lopez-Alt https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-vegetable-fried-rice-recipe. A few years ago I followed his recipe to the letter before adding my own tweaks, and the results were as close to restaurant quality as I’ve ever gotten. The main changes for me were:
1. Using fresh-cooked rice that I dried out on a half-sheet under a fan for 20 minutes.
2. Frying the rice separately in batches, in a cheap, well-seasoned carbon steel flat-bottom wok* over the >>HIGHEST GODDAM HEAT POSSIBLE<<, using heat-compatible oil, until there were little char-marks on about half the grains.
3. Frying the vegetables separately until also charred on the edges
4. Salting the mixture with Maldon, then using just enough soy sauce for flavor.
All this produces the best fried rice I’ve ever made, by a factor of at least 147. Highly recommend a few generous squirts of La-Yu hot oil at the table. #cooking
______
* if you’re leery of carbon steel, just get a tube of Crisbee Cream cast iron seasoning and follow the easy instructions on the label. It’s a game-changer.
What do you call the TINY little dishes you'd use to lay out your spices, or pressed garlic, grated ginger. Imagine like ten tiny white ceramic dishes holding their individual ingredients. #cooking
Do you like eating?
Do you love cooking?
Do you think food is good?
Are you a “foodie”?
Can you bingewatch food porn?
Well, we’re living through a mass extinction event and the food will go away.
Click here to find out more!
Time for an #introduction! I am a #UU #UnitarianUniversalist clergyperson, a #Druid of the AODA, a spiritual director, and a scholar working on my PhD (having already done a DMin). I love #cooking, #gardening, #fiberarts, working out, and living quietly & sustainably in the woods.
I’m slowly building a public scholarship presence beyond my congregation and religious communities, including work supporting activism around #climatechange #sustainability #JEDI #queerness and #sexualfreedom.
Sous vide turkey leg (speasoned, 150F for 36 hours, then broiled until crispy, a few minutes per side), with microwave reheated frozen instant pot wild/brown rice, steamed string beans, and homemade cranberry jelly sauce. #dinner #cooking #sousvide #turkey #instantpot
https://www.unsellingconvenience.com/post/717863474097766400/sous-vide-turkey-leg-speasoned-150f-for-36
Pizza night! #Sourdough crust, mozzarella. There’s a base made with heavy cream and Calabrian chili crisp, and it’s topped with walnuts, Italian sausage, and leeks. #pizza #cooking
I am a baking fiend lately. I made ciabatta last weekend and loved it so I’m trying again this week. But every time I lift the lid on the dough, it smells like roasted peppers, since I apparently didn’t clean it as well as I thought. 😶
BUT THIS COULD BE A BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE, we don’t know. I will find out when the new batch bakes tomorrow.
Anyhow, it has been a tasty week of sandwiches.
First canning project of the season - blueberry jam. 6.5 pints of blueberries, 3 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons of Pomona’s Universal Pectin, 11 8oz jars. #canning #cooking #preservation #blueberry #jam
https://www.unsellingconvenience.com/post/717689867129307136/first-canning-project-of-the-season-blueberry
Since I have some free time I’ll give an #introduction 🖤
Hello #Horrorhub & #mastodon my name is Darcy, and I’m your friend to the end 👻
I enjoy all things spooky and horror. Some of my favorite horror films include: The Ring, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Audition, The Orphanage, The Conjuring, Annabelle, X, and The Hills Have Eyes.
Interested in:
#horror
#films
#witchy
#science
#art
#photography
#nature
#music
#bands
#crafts
#cooking
#learning
#beauty
#fashion
1. Another beautiful spring day in Southeast #Michigan
2. About half of my snap peas have survived the cutworm attack. Organic #gardening is an act of hope.
3. I tried a new NYTimes #Cooking recipe. And although it wasn't a good one, I give myself points for branching out and trying something different.