I'm loosing my mind. Okay, maybe not my mind, but I did loose a shrimp!

[MarkUpnorth]

I'm loosing it. Help! It started with answering a reply,....I got lost in my own house!?!? No, not really, I knew I was in the basement, where my pantry, deep freeze, and spare fridge are at. But for the life of me couldn't remember why. Didn't recover from that one.......okay, I used to do that all the time. Now it's only on occasion. Must have been an important occasion.....the reply???

But really, I lost a shrimp! Looked everywhere. Even the garbage. Where did it go? Don't have a dog. Making dinner (yes I know it's early, I start in the A.M.) That gives me time to finish. Now, if I had a kitchen full of prep cooks....? Yeah, did that management thing....did it well...but M.S. took that from me. The Shrimp? Stay focussed.... For dinner, I'm making a simple salad, many types of organic spring lettuces (from Aldi - cheap), EVOO & Balsamic, cut up tiny tomatoes, and tiny peppers, all in season somewhere, but cheap here. Less than a buck a pint & bag here. Then a shrimp bisque, and a shrimp creole. There were bargain buys on shrimp!..... Focus.... the shrimp, to make the shrimp bisque you need seafood stock, something since I don't live anywhere near a fishmonger, I had to substitute chicken stock, and if you add a couple shrimp, with shells on, and simmer, it suffices. Definitely had (2) frozen shrimp, which I added. But when I went to immersion blend the bisque after going through all the steps, with the diced onion and celery, and......., yeah, I forgot to take out the bay leaf, but saw it before I minced it, but the shrimp.....??? I remembered they were in there too. I took the wooden spoon and got the one, fully intact, with shell, pealed it, and ate it. Then went to look for the other one. Nowhere. I even dumped the batch into another pot. Nope. Looked everywhere. I know there were 2. Now only one. No, I didn't blend it. Looked for any evidence of shell bits, cooked shrimp.... Again, did I say I even checked the garbage? It was a big shrimp! Okay that sounded???? A big shrimp??...but really 16/20 were on sale at one of the stores for under $5 a pound! (with digital coupon, limit one per person....and you had to say pretty pretty please!) Yep, I couldn't pass that up. Anyone know where my shrimp went?

Anyone hungry? Dinner will be ready by 4pm! As always. Does that mean I'm an old fart? Eating dinner at 4pm? Hey, I get up by 4:30A.M. everyday, as I have for the past 4 decades at least. Tomorrow I'm getting up earlier, going Powerlining for salmon and trout! Yeah, something only done in Chicago on Lake Michigan. You take a piece of pipe hooked up to a CO2 fire extinguisher and launch a hunk of lead about a football field out into the lake, to which there is a long rubber band attached, and to that a regular fishing reel. Launch it out (can't say the S word in Chicago), about a football field's worth from shore, then reel it back in, just to the point before breaking, and attach your "trot line" of 25 baited hooks, to send it back out. Attach it to a bell screwed in to your bucket or cooler. If it "rings", answer it, by pulling the line back in, and hopefully your fish, or if you're lucky, fishes! It's a Chicago thing, which I did since I was a kid, back in the days when one used a railroad spike, and David and Goliath sent it out by twirling it above your head. Hope you like me rambling on? The shrimp????

Winds are right for the fish to come to shore....wish me luck!!! No I don't use shrimp for bait.... Inland fish, don't eat shrimp....??? But wait, salmon were once ocean fish...till they intentionally put them in Lake Michigan. Nope, too good to waste trying.....well maybe one? Maybe I put my lost shrimp in with the worms and minnows??? NO! It's still lost! Have a great day. Remember dinner is in 1 hour!

[Royjr]

Sounds good. Oh yeah about your lost shrimp, there’s must be a shrimp bandit going around because I had one missing Saturday 😀🤥.

[carolek572 CommunityAmbassador]

MarkUpnorth Forget about losing a big shrimp, I think that you might have lost your mind! Just kidding! Anyway, I loved your post, and thank you for making me smile! Your dinner sounded delicious, even with the missing shrimp!

[Jazzihorsecat]

Mark, maybe that shrimp saw u ate his cousin, & just ran away! Far Away!😄😃LOL!😀👍j/k, funny post! I'd take that delicious salad u made w/out the shrimp, I'm deathly allergic!😱😷

Take it easy! Jazzy🌹💜

[jimeka]

Loved it, especially the description of power lining, which I have never heard of. I have a severe allergy to seafood, a bit of useless information for you. Did you know that they use seafood in anaesthetics. I just happened to mention it to my anaesthetist before my op, and he told me how some had shell fish in it, scary! Let us know if you ever find your shrimp. Blessings Jimeka 😊

[MarkUpnorth in reply to jimeka]

I think I found it! (unfortunately, I think the immersion blender got it before I realized there were things in there, specifically the 2 shrimp with shells and the bay leaf), as there were a few shells in the bisque. Was delish non-the-less, just don't be alarmed if you get a shell? Apparently one got it with the immersion blender within the first couple seconds before I stopped to get them out. May strain the remaining leftover.

[jimeka in reply to MarkUpnorth]

It will be crunching, a new texture for you 😊

[MarkUpnorth in reply to jimeka]

Just finished round 2 with the shrimp bisque. Yep, got the main shell today. It was so soft,.....nope, I set it aside!

[MarkUpnorth in reply to jimeka]

And as for the power lining for salmon....well, today, up at 3:30AM, out on the lakefront before sunrise, I was out there, on the western shores of Lake Michigan, everything went as rehearsed many times before, well. Set up, 2 lines out promptly, 25 minnows on one line, 25 big fat night crawlers on the other. Sitting in my canvas arm chair, bundled to the hilt because with the wind coming off the lake directly at you, you know it's cold because that water was frozen just a few weeks ago!.....waiting for the bells to start ringing......waiting....... Lines, are fixed to bells welded to springs and screwed into the cooler top also used to store the fish you catch, along with a frozen soda bottle full of frozen water so they stay fresh),...... so when a fish takes any one of the many, many baits from just off shore, to about a 100-150 yards offshore...... That's powerling! This morning, a weekday, about 30 people out fishing where I'm at, lined up along the shore as far as you could see north and south of you. I know, there are many, many more fishing the harbor just north, and south, too far to see..., and there are many harbors, with fishermen, beyond those. It's a REAL BIG THING, if you live in/around Chicago, and you fish. It's like Baseball and Hot Dogs? (Im not really a fan of either). Though, yes you have to be a die-hard to do this kind of stuff. Winds were right. It has to be out of the southwest, or near it....for reasons if you really care, ask, and I'll explain..... It's after St. Patty's day, the unofficial start of spring coho salmon power lining, (it just happens to be when the ice goes out), though I pushed things one year, and the ice went out the night before.....I was out the next morning......got my lines out.....and the lake refroze before my eyes!

Spring Coho Power Lining rules state you should have your 5 fish, (your daily limit), by 10 am, and be on your way home with a bucket full of fresh salmon or lake trout. Today???? No bells!!! No fish??? I lost my fishing contacts when I tired years ago......, (building chief engineers), who I knew them all, from working with them all regularly, in the high rises up and down the western shores of Lake Michigan (Chicago). Did you know many of them fish too!!! And I took advantage of that! AND, from the tops of those buildings, did you know you can easily see the fish, where they are at..., how many.... It's like the best fish locator ever made!!! Thanks to a tiny invasive crustacean???...Zebra mussels brought in from the water in the ballast chambers of the ocean going boats that came into the great lakes. They turned the green Lake Michigan crystal clear! Good for looks, bad for habitat....no more smelting as I did as a kid....., or......Had enough great lake eco xxxx?

......."Call to Chief Johnson....How are you?....I need a fishing report. Can you go look?, thanks,...., they were here yesterday?... in record numbers?.....so your upstairs now? and your looking right now...........and they've all gone???? Where'd they go????

It's because I'm not Irish!!! and I decided to go fishing. You gotta be Irish to have any luck in this town, at least anytime near St. Patty's day!,....you do know they go so far as to dye the river green on St. Patty's day! But, really, even with the best studies done by this engineer.....tracked for years when I couldn't get out, only watch from the office many miles away, in mere moments of a break, dreaming I could be there too, during my 80 hour normal work weeks,....where I got many glimpses of the water, yet unable to stop, because I always had a schedule so tight.... Want to see my spreadsheets and calculations of logging the blogs and reports from people I knew?..... SO DID I ALREADY SAY? NO ONE CAUGHT ANYTHING. NOTHING. So, it looks like it's those Salmon Hot Dogs for Dinner!?!?!? Something new, under $3 for 4 dogs, from the frozen fish market of my produce market, from Norway...and nothing I couldn't pronounce, except maybe the fancy cheese added, I heard of it, but can't pronounce it.....okay google how do you pronounce Jarlsberg? So, I will risk it and try? That along with a new salad of mixed organic spring lettuces, my purple curly leaf kale, sliced multi-colored peppers, diced mini-tomatoes,....and should I dare? It hasn't snowed in some time now,...add some cheese???, make it a snow on spring salad? I heard there is a small possibility of snow coming up as temperatures are going to tank again! Does feta go with that?...Why not! Crumble it, it's good! Forgive me if it snows! Nope...Cucumber....put enough of that on top, dice, no need for snow...Don't worry, I'm past the desire for any snow too!

[jimeka in reply to MarkUpnorth]

You should write a book, it makes very interesting reading, you had me enthralled, Blessings Jimeka, glad you found your shrimp. 😂

[Peruzzot]

Love the story...I have days like that. I lost a whole chicken once...I found it on top of the microwave I hardly ever use...i was getting ready to start blaming a poltergeist of stealing it when I found it.😂🤣😂🤣 Hope you find your wayward shrimp.

[carolek572 CommunityAmbassador in reply to Peruzzot]

A poultrygeist? Oh, now that is a hoot! Thank you for that!

[falalalala in reply to carolek572]

🤣 🤣 🤣

[MarkUpnorth in reply to Peruzzot]

You can read above, I think I found it! However, I know someone who left a chicken on top of their deep freeze in the basement, and didn't realize it until the entire basement smelled awful. No, it wasn't me. And this person was younger than I, without any reasons to be forgetful.

[Peruzzot in reply to MarkUpnorth]

Hate it when that happens!!😵😱😨

[MarkUpnorth in reply to Peruzzot]

The Chicken, or the Shrimp. I'm not loosing sleep or my dinner over the shrimp.

[Peruzzot in reply to MarkUpnorth]

The chicken

[pamgarner]

good luck findin it, I usually find everything in the freezer my purse, keys notes pens,I look there first

[MarkUpnorth]

My grandparents, I remember growing up, kept everything valuable to them in the freezer. And always disguised in ways you couldn't imagine. I'd hear things like, if you thaw out that split pea soup, you will find....

[Ali_B62]

If that shrimp turns up here, I will be sure to let you know and send it back 😂

[carolek572 CommunityAmbassador]

Bon Appetit ~ reading your post and replies makes me hungry, MarkUpnorth Have you thought about having your own blog?

Keep Smiling,

Carole

[MarkUpnorth in reply to carolek572]

Yeah, right. This ex-engineer, who had a computer back in the days when if you wanted to use it for anything, you had to program it,....And I did!....I also had one of the first cell phones, trunk mounted Motorola, ...and never stopped with everything new and techy, when I "camped", I did stuff like light up the forest, with lots and lots of lights, sets all individually run, and set to music....before anything came on tv,.....a self igniting fire pit,...a means of sheltering the whole fire pit area from rains without a permanent structure,................then came M.S.! Now, I'm lucky I figured out this site. I can still do spreadsheets, auto updating to some point, but get my echo's working right together....they did, two of them, but when the 3rd came around, now the new one's been banned from the group! Remember, we're talking about gadgets....not kids! Or some people these days! I know that's not rocket science.......but I think I'm going to need a help desk? The ex-engineer I was?...... You know, I still can't get the whole making money on clicks and stuff like that. I've tried and tried. Nope, can't venture to far anymore. Facebook or Linkedin, forget it! Hey, I can text? AND email! I paid a firm to set-up and run our website. Yeah, one! Now I people who have several, all done themselves.

I cook, make up the menu of the day (dinner), primarily so that I don't forget what I'm making by dinner time!!! And when I'm not cooking, yes I'm still thinking food, searching out recipes, and looking at all the comments, alter the recipe, or steal parts of it, to add to another....., only recipes looked for because of what's available on sale, super sale, or giveaway. Yeah, the whole time making a trail of post-its to get it done. If one of the post-it's disappears....either of two things happens: 1. The whole dinner fails to turn out, or 2. something gets left off. Yeah, someone who ran (2) semi-technical businesses...In fields which I had to learn, and was good enough to work for the best of Chicagoland.....excelling at it,......NOW?....I'm doing all I can do. Now if I could figure out how to put one of those emoji things with a sad face, I would. But...I'd have to figure that one out! Multiple sad faces!

[carolek572 CommunityAmbassador in reply to MarkUpnorth]

You're too tough on yourself, but I get where you are coming from. You were a spectacular engineer, and you probably still are, in many ways. But that is in the past, and like me, a computer programmer, yes, I am dating myself, that is what I have always been, and no sugar coating to say that I was a consultant, I keep telling myself that that did not or does not define who I am/was. Plus, that consultant title was only a way for my employer to charge an absurd hourly rate for my expertise. Today, with 'ms', I probably couldn't program my way out of a wet paper bag. Starting a blog, and maintaining it, is above my pay grade as well, but I am told that it is easy to do. I have tried, through something called WordPress and for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. This was over 10 years ago, and when I thought that I had all my marbles. So, you are not alone in not being able to 'blog'.

Keep Smiling,

Carole

[MarkUpnorth in reply to carolek572]

Thanks

[carolek572 CommunityAmbassador in reply to MarkUpnorth]

No blog? Okay but keep posting in this forum, okay?

And Keep Smiling,

Carole

[MarkUpnorth in reply to carolek572]

Will do!

[livewell2]

Mystery

[Bkboo]

Laughing out loud literally!! I can relate lol