Costco Dessert Bars

I didn't actually taste any of this so I can't vouch for its oh-no-ness, but Wendell said that it was a hit with his softball team. 

Pumpkin with Dried Shrimp

Wendell came home the other day with a bag of cut-up kabocha from Costco.  A dish from waaaay back in the day that my mom used to make came to my mind.  It included dried shrimp which is a bit unusual, so I was surprised when I found several recipes online.  I chose the one from What to Cook Today site, mostly because it was the first one. 

It came out wetter than my mom's but ono enough that Wendell said that maybe he'll make it for his team!  Also, my mom's didn't include any meat, but I added ground pork so that it would turn into a main rather than just a side dish.  And I bumped up the amounts stated in the recipe just a skosh 'cause it felt right to do that. 

 

The pumpkin came in a two-bag pack for $9.99.  I used about three-fourths because I couldn't fit it all in the pan. 

   

This is the humongous dried shrimp that I used.  Wendell's friend gave the bag to him awhile back.  I thought he said that it was from Vegas, but not sure now.  Maybe it was from the Big Island.

  

750 grams pumpkin, cubed

2 Tbsp dried shrimp, soaked 10 minutes

1 tsp grated ginger

1 Tbsp cooking oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chicken broth

*ground or thinly sliced meat* if desired

Seasonings:

1 Tbsp sambal oelek (optional)

1 Tbsp oyster sauce 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

Garnish:

Crispy fried shallots

Instructions:

Peel and cut pumpkin into cubes.  Soak dried shrimp in warm water for about 10 minutes or until softened.

Preheat 1 Tbsp of oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for about 10 seconds.  Add the dried shrimp and stir fry for about 1 minute.  *You can add ground or thinly sliced meat here.*  Add the pumpkin followed by seasonings and continue to stir fry to combine everything.  Add chicken broth and cover with a lid to let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until pumpkins are softened but not mushy.  Adjust seasonings to your taste.

Sprinkle with some fried shallots.

My Blogger Comments

The weirdest thing is happening.  I can't post any comments right now.   Been trying to fix it all day.  It's so puzzling.  

Sorry. 

UPDATE:  According to Blogger Help, others are having the same problem.  

"It looks like something that users can't fix on their own. We'll just have to wait patiently for the team to resolve this issue. (related to reCAPTCHA?)"

Zippy's September Special

 Korean Chicken and Chili ($10.99).  Good deal!  And ono!

Cleta's Garlic Ahi with Pesto Pasta

Per Cleta:

I cooked for my tenants so the amounts are huge....

2 lbs ahi, cut into cubes.  Marinate in Hawaiian salt, lots of chopped garlic and EVOO to moisten.  Keep it chilled for 2-3 hrs.

Boil 1 package of pasta, drain and set aside. 

Fry up the marinated ahi (may need more oil to fry).  Taste, may need more salt.  

In a small pot, cook the Creamy Pesto sauce. Combine the pasta, ahi and sauce.

NOTE: for this quantity, one package sauce is enough BUT if it sits for awhile, the sauce will get soaked up so you might want to have two packages handy.....or cook less 😉 

 

 

Battery Generator

Wendell returned the new 8,000W broken battery generator to Costco and had been going back to Costco daily searching for an alternative.

He ended up getting two of these 3600W ones from Home Depot ($550 each).  It's kinda funny because they ended up being His and Hers, one for Wendell and one for me.  Landon already has one that he bought awhile back to use when camping. 

Wendell's plan is to get a gas generator to power up these electric ones if the outage lasts long.  These battery "generators" aren't really generators to me because they don't actually generate power.  They're like big rechargeable batteries.  After their power is drained, they need to be recharged again.

So, it looks like we're almost ready for the predicted impending storms and more possible outages.   

Spam and Potatoes

I followed a recipe from The Southern Lady Cooks website to make this.  

I used two large potatoes (instead of 4 to 5), no green pepper (we didn't have) and added four pieces of sliced bacon.

It came out good.  Wendell loved it so much that he used the leftovers to make an omelette the next day for breakfast (and lunch). 

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 large potatoes peeled and cubed
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion or regular onion
• 1 12 ounce can of spam, chopped
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/3 cup cooking oil vegetable, canola or olive
• 2 to 3 tablespoons bacon drippings (optional)

Instructions

• Combine the cubed potatoes, chopped peppers, onion and chopped spam in a large mixing bowl.
• In a smaller bowl whisk together the flour, black pepper, salt and garlic powder. Add flour mixture to chopped potatoes and spam mixture and toss to coat all ingredients
• Heat oil and bacon drippings in a large skillet on top of the stove. Add the potatoes and spam and brown uncovered on high for about five minutes.
• Cover and turn down heat to medium and cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove cover and cook until potatoes are browned and crispy. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Dyson Vacuum Cleaner Repair

I got the Dyson V15 Detect vacuum cleaner back in April 2024.  My favorite feature was the green light that helps you see all the dust on the floor.  You can check it out here.  

In December 2025, the green light stopped working.  It stopped working because the roller stopped spinning.  The roller stopped spinning because this end cap thing had cracked.

 

The cap covers the end of the roller like this.

   

This is what happened to the pin which is what caused the cap to crack. 

It took me weeks to figure out the problem.  The cap was available on Amazon (the bomb diggity shopping place), and was only $15.99!  And, so far it's still working. 

Swap Meet - 08/23/2026

I went to the swap meet yesterday especially to give some cheesecake bars to the vendor who found my car key.  I hope he enjoys them. 

These are my buys for the day.  In the back row, the Creative Station (I think sticker maker) was $1.  Desktop Vornado was $4.  The seller of the fan is sister Geri's classmate.  He said that he bought it from Amazon and it was smaller than he expected.  My fave Kaki no Tane kakimochi with peanuts were $1 each.  They expire this month so I got "only" 6 bags. Yarn for my mom was 2/$5.  I plan to use the narrow blue painter's tape in my craftwork.  It was $1.

 

Cleta's Beef with Sweet Sour Cabbage

Per Cleta:  This recipe was given and taught to me by my Chinese friend who passed away. She was a great cook.  So easy.  The sin choy keeps loooooong time in the back of the fridge.