Last night I had Jersey Mike's for dinner, and it made me feel like a piece of shit

Lerxst said:
Ever since my Dad passed away, my Mom hasn't really been motivated to cook for one person and she hasn't been into meal planning and getting all the ingredients together. I periodically get her a gift card to one of those services and she has been super pleased with the meals and how easy it has been.
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Would love a rec or two on good companies, there are dozens out there...
 
Jersey Mike’s what?

The meal kit thing is a good idea. You get some good food, and maybe a bit of momentum toward a pastime/hobby: cooking.

Something that helped me last year was to try to learn something new. There are a bunch of companies offering up their tech training for free. If there’s something that gets your pistons firing, that might something to look into. Even though it sounds like more work, it’s not as bad if you’re enjoying it. With all the free options, there’s low risk to try something to see if it clicks.


Also, you’ve done a great job with the recordings you’ve posted. I envy what you can do and hate that I’ve managed to advance my playing by exactly zero in the last year.
 
frunobulax said:
I use cooking as relaxation.

I put music on, and focus in on the task. Nothing else matters or is important for that 60-90 minutes of getting food prepared.

It clears the mind.
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Can't disagree with this.

Pretty much why I don't like baking - too much mess and it's too precise whereas cooking is akin to painting or jamming on guitar if you approach it with that mindset.
 
frunobulax said:
I use cooking as relaxation.

I put music on, and focus in on the task. Nothing else matters or is important for that 60-90 minutes of getting food prepared.

It clears the mind.
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I agree.

Also, having a dog is wonderful for my spirit. Petting my dog, or even just looking at him, gives me that big oxytocin boost.
 
Chicken Man said:
No one's ever felt good after eating a Philly cheese steak. No one who feels good would order one in the first place. We eat Philly cheese steaks to punish ourselves.
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You shut your filthy mouth. Philly cheesesteaks are a gift from heaven.

As for the OP, I've found that spending less time on the interwebz has been a big help. I feel a lot better when my downtime is spent on something positive. I would usually spend an 1-2 hours before bed each night just zombie scrolling current events, which are all shit. Now I spend that time on guitar practice (actual structured practice and youtube lessons, not just noodling) and reading books.
It's been a big help.
 
frunobulax said:
I use cooking as relaxation.

I put music on, and focus in on the task. Nothing else matters or is important for that 60-90 minutes of getting food prepared.

It clears the mind.
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Me too, but when I was at my lowest, I couldn’t be bothered to cook for myself. I didn’t gorge on shitty food though. I opted for shitty bourbon. Bad times.

Fortunately, didn’t stay in that head space. Therapist definitely helped. Never got on medication although it was recommended and discussed rather extensively.

One of the things that pulled me out was cooking for other people. I’m not going to spend hours on something for myself, but I will gladly do it to show somebody else a good time.

Lock down is going to make stuff like that very difficult for you, something to remember is it’s the same for everybody else too and there is opportunity there. As an example, if you live in an apartment building, and cooked a meal to share with other folks, that might really make their week. Might even make some new friends in the process.
 
rhino said:
Lock down is going to make stuff like that very difficult for you, something to remember is it’s the same for everybody else too and there is opportunity there. As an example, if you live in an apartment building, and cooked a meal to share with other folks, that might really make their week. Might even make some new friends in the process.
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That's a good idea too.

It was hard going because he was 80 and liked old school grub - as in even Italian was too "fancy" for him but we used to cook more and send grub down to an old neighbour who didn't look after himself when his wife went into the care home for good. It was done primarily to help him out and make sure he wasn't eating fish and chips 7 days a week. Accrued some positive karma and whatnot.

Sadly he's in a home himself now but if we fire up the pizza oven or are doing a big batch of something we make sure we send some round to my pal round the corner who lives on his own and, is kind of in your mindset re: cooking for himself and another old neighbour who has gotten into cooking more himself. Now he sends us stuff round too - I got a plate of chicken pakora passed through the window at 8pm last night and he's making bread for us today.

It's a really good way to foster community and look after each other.
 
Just made this stew: https://www.recipetineats.com/beef-stew/

Ok it's not superfood healthy but it's not junk either.

10 minutes total hands on time. It's delicious and you could get 2 dinners and 2 lunches out of it so you're only cooking one day or you could portion it out, freeze it and you've got 4 dinners ready to be bunged in the microwave...

Same with chillis, curry etc... you could spend saturday or sunday batch cooking a couple of different things and feed yourself for 2 weeks at a time.

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jbj said:
10 minutes total hands on time. It's delicious and you could get 2 dinners and 2 lunches out of it so you're only cooking one day or you could portion it out, freeze it and you've got 4 dinners ready to be bunged in the microwave...
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Smurfco, I know you're feeling down, but don't ever get so depressed that you take this advice without accounting for the fact that "bunged" doesn't translate exactly from the UK.
 
Ive been making a few models. Mainly Star Trek and Star Wars. It was something I did I did when I was a kid and now with being at home a lot I thought Id give it a go again. Oh and I bunged some LEDs in there too. All helps to pass the time constructively.

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Chicken Man said:
Smurfco, I know you're feeling down, but don't ever get so depressed that you take this advice without accounting for the fact that "bunged" doesn't translate exactly from the UK.
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:baimun: wise words


Anyway you know how stews and stuff tastes better the next day... just had this for lunch, it could have done another dinner too.

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Motivation these days is tough. I go to work all day and by the time I get home I just wanna sit and drink while staring mindlessly at the TV.
I can't imagine doing it alone so I feel for you there, although you do have this glorious collection of sick bastards to talk to.
At any rate, when you feel low, go stare at that kick ass Christmas gift I got you and remember it wouldn't exist if you hadn't put the time and creativity into writing and recording your kick ass music.
Or you could just try shaving cool patterns into your pubes and sharing them on some creepy dark web site.
 
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