The last time. Breakfast: 1 slice spinach and feta pizza, 1 hard-boiled egg.
After breakfast, I prepped a dish for tonight's dinner, Madhur Jaffrey's Sri Lankan Eggplant "Pickle" (this is the closest thing to a link to it I can find). The cooked eggplants need to sit all day in the pickling marinade (salt, pepper, turmeric, cinnamon stick, curry leaves, lemongrass, onion, green chilies, mustard seeds, cayenne, sugar, garlic, ginger, vinegar) before eating. I tasted one, though. It was pretty good. Oh, also? The last eggplant dish from Madhur Jaffrey. My God, that woman is fond of eggplant. On to fava beans-- later tonight, actually. Here are some process pictures of the eggplant:
After breakfast, I prepped a dish for tonight's dinner, Madhur Jaffrey's Sri Lankan Eggplant "Pickle" (this is the closest thing to a link to it I can find). The cooked eggplants need to sit all day in the pickling marinade (salt, pepper, turmeric, cinnamon stick, curry leaves, lemongrass, onion, green chilies, mustard seeds, cayenne, sugar, garlic, ginger, vinegar) before eating. I tasted one, though. It was pretty good. Oh, also? The last eggplant dish from Madhur Jaffrey. My God, that woman is fond of eggplant. On to fava beans-- later tonight, actually. Here are some process pictures of the eggplant:
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I'm getting a little bit better at this photo thing...
Vanilla beans in a jar with vodka. I had to store this on its side so the beans would be submerged. I also started making vanilla extract according to instructions from Jennifer Reese: slit open 9 vanilla beans, scraping out most of their seeds into a jar, then cover seeds and pods with 1 1/2 cups plain vodka and let sit for 3 months, shaking occasionally. My only problem? I paid too much for the vanilla beans. At my old coop in Montana, they cost, I think, $2/bean, but at my new coop they cost $4. That made 9 beans $36, and when I did the math (including about $6-7 worth of vodka), this vanilla, assuming it works, will cost about $3.50/oz. That is not far off from what I normally pay for vanilla, plus there is more labor and risk. Reese suggested ordering the beans in bulk online, and that is what I should have done. Just from a quick search I can see that I could easily have paid half that price, or less.
By late morning I am feeling both hungry and "lazy" again. I gave the rest of the jelly beans to my daughter in order to get them out of my life, but now I want them back. (Fortunately for both of us, I do regard a promise as a promise.) I'm sitting at my computer writing, but I have a strong craving to be playing the same old familiar game that was boring me to tears by the end of yesterday (OK, Civilization 4, people, if you must know). I keep thinking about Sex and the City, which I discovered yesterday is available on Amazon Prime. "Getting it out of my system" didn't work. Well-- at least-- it worked to the extent that I am NOT doing those things currently, but it didn't cause me to not want to do those things.
Not me. I wish. I think it is a matter of confidence. I am afraid that the various writing projects I have in mind (including this one) are all dumb, and/or that I cannot pull them off. However, when I am playing Civilization for the 10,000th time and eating jellybeans, I have not the slightest expectation of any productive result. Pressure and anxiety, gone! ...Except, there was this amazing thing that happened on Tuesday the 12th. I didn't feel like going to my yoga class in the afternoon, as so many times before I have not felt like going to my yoga class. Several sessions in a row, this has resulted in my basically dropping out of the class partway through the semester. However, this time, my desire not to go to yoga class was not quite as strong as my feeling that I cannot fail at this AGAIN. I went. I had a good time (the universe gave me an easy class and a yoga teacher who tells funny, self-revealing stories). There is a value to the "just do it" mentality. I think possibly the only way to deal with all the temptations and escapisms is acknowledge their siren song... then resolutely turn my back and power through whatever I've decided is the wholesome choice. Whether that is finally getting ahold of my medical records so I can have my next mammogram (no one does that for fun), enduring a January morning without candy, or spending three solid hours at my computer writing without getting sidetracked into games... I'll at least know that, when I'm done, I will not have that feeling of failed again.
I am not throwing away my shot.
Lunch: Manchego cheese, balsamic Bellavitano cheese, quince paste, marscapone, 2 slices ciabatta bread, eaten in various configurations.
Dinner: The Sri Lankan eggplant pickles, also Jaffrey's Fresh Fava Beans Sauteed with Garlic and Thyme, small ribeye steaks, plain baked potato. For some reason this dinner wasn't filling at all and we were hungry two hours later. So, okay, the eggplant "pickle" was intense. Not what I'd normally think of as a pickle-- there was minimal brine involved, although it did contain both salt and vinegar-- and with flavor totally dominated by mustard seed. Still, I might have found this dish enjoyable paired with the right other components. Unfortunately, Jaffrey (uncharacteristically) neglected to describe how one might use this recipe in its cultural context, but instead says it "may be served with almost any meal." Like hell it may. It certainly didn't go well with the meal I served.
The fava beans, sauteed simply with some thyme, lemon, and garlic, were... fine. However, given the tedium of fava bean prep (shell beans, cook in boiling water, peel each individual bean, cook again according to recipe instructions), I expect better than fine. I expect buttery, rich, perfect. I invested at least 45 minutes of active prep on something I could probably have made with frozen limas and not noticed too much difference. Maybe the quality of my beans was at fault-- they seemed a bit old and spotty.
I am not throwing away my shot.
Lunch: Manchego cheese, balsamic Bellavitano cheese, quince paste, marscapone, 2 slices ciabatta bread, eaten in various configurations.
Dinner: The Sri Lankan eggplant pickles, also Jaffrey's Fresh Fava Beans Sauteed with Garlic and Thyme, small ribeye steaks, plain baked potato. For some reason this dinner wasn't filling at all and we were hungry two hours later. So, okay, the eggplant "pickle" was intense. Not what I'd normally think of as a pickle-- there was minimal brine involved, although it did contain both salt and vinegar-- and with flavor totally dominated by mustard seed. Still, I might have found this dish enjoyable paired with the right other components. Unfortunately, Jaffrey (uncharacteristically) neglected to describe how one might use this recipe in its cultural context, but instead says it "may be served with almost any meal." Like hell it may. It certainly didn't go well with the meal I served.
The fava beans, sauteed simply with some thyme, lemon, and garlic, were... fine. However, given the tedium of fava bean prep (shell beans, cook in boiling water, peel each individual bean, cook again according to recipe instructions), I expect better than fine. I expect buttery, rich, perfect. I invested at least 45 minutes of active prep on something I could probably have made with frozen limas and not noticed too much difference. Maybe the quality of my beans was at fault-- they seemed a bit old and spotty.
 Before. Not my photo because I forgot to take one. |  Shelled, round one |  Shelled, round two |
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee, 2 regular, 2 decaf, with half and half. Glass of sherry.