I thought that I was going to spend the day sewing. Then I checked FlightAware and saw that United was sending a 767, which they never do, so I went out to take its picture. Since we are having “winter,” I just threw on a coat over my pajamas. And then I came home and intentionally ignored the 777 that was coming and lolled about doing not much of anything.

I happened to look out the window, and I saw a plane flying from west to east. I live about three miles from the airport, and when I look out my window I normally see the planes flying from east to west on their final descent into the airport. Seeing a plane flying from west to east means that the airport is all turned around and they are running both departures and arrivals off of runway 9. This happens very infrequently, and it almost never happens when it is sunny out. So I went to the park at the end of the runway and took pictures until I went through two camera batteries.

But the real thing that this blog post is about is powdered coconut milk. This product is sad and terrible if you think that you are going to mix it with water and that it is going to be just like coconut milk. But as an ingredient, it exceeds expectations. For example, if you mix a few tablespoons in with the rice when you cook it, you will have coconut rice, which is delicious. Your meal can have a real sense of culinary fusion if you also buy mango salsa from the refrigerated section of Whole Foods. If my Instagram were not heavily themed, I might have taken a picture of the shredded pork that I made in the InstantPot served with coconut rice and several types of Whole Foods salsas.

The other thing that powdered coconut milk is good for is making a batch of “we have no food in the house” soup. This is an amazing instant soup that owes its existence to various modern technologies for creating foods that last for a really long time. Its ingredients are: powdered coconut milk, chicken flavor “better than bullion” (keeps forever in the fridge), tom yum soup powder, and hot water. Add some Trader Joe’s pre-cooked chicken if you have it. Add some of those rice vermicelli that cook by soaking in hot water if you have them. If not, just drink the soup from a mug