The Friday Five, 10/2/20: 5 things I've been up to this week

Quarantine, end of week 29. Obviously anything I tell you about my week won't trump the biggest news of today, but I'll still share some highlights from my week regardless. 

Butter noodles and candied beef at Ima, Madison Heights
Butter noodles and candied beef at Ima, Madison Heights

What I've been up to this week:

    1. Eating out. Per usual, takeout or patios only. On Friday, my boyfriend and I went to Ima, in Madison Heights, because they were doing 15% off for Madison Heights Restaurant Week; this is the first year MHRW has taken place. On Saturday, my parents and I got Outback takeout, and on Wednesday, my parents finally came to my area to see my renovated condo and also get MOD takeout, which we ate at my house since the weather wasn't good. 
    2. Cooking. I had Dinnerly last week and this week, and I'll be getting EveryPlate next week, which will be nice since it involves already-printed recipe cards. Last night we made a "steakhouse cheeseburger" with homemade fries, and on Sunday I made bruschetta chicken. 
    3. Yelp meatloaf event. To go with the previous bullet point, on Monday I attended a virtual Yelp Detroit event, where a local St. Clair Shores-area chef taught us how to make meatloaf. My meatloaf came out pretty tasty, and I have the last of the leftovers today ... I ended up with about 5 extra portions, so I've been eating it all week! It was sweeter than others I've made, and I think that's because of the ketchup + Worcestershire sauce combo. The chef also had us use 1.5 pounds of ground beef and .5 pounds of ground pork, which was interesting.
    4. Watching the presidential debate. Which was a bit of a hot mess, but if you watched it you probably already knew that. 
    5. Getting my Google Nest thermostat installed! I bought this during the summer because Consumer's Energy was having a sale for their customers: it was only $15 (tax plus shipping/handling) and they retail around $150-200, I believe. I'm definitely not qualified to install it myself but a friend's dad is my local handyman, and he came over and was able to do it for me. It's been pretty neat experimenting with controlling the temperature via the Nest app, my Alexa (Echo Dot) downstairs, and my Google Home Mini upstairs (as well as via the actual thermostat itself, of course).
    Yelp Detroit meatloaf prep
    Yelp meatloaf prep!

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