Still feeling allergic in the morning, also just Not Good. Hard to say why. Breakfast as usual, even while mind does not feel as usual, rebels silently against having breakfast as usual while reading internet news as usual, sitting in the dining room as usual. Lemon water, coffee with half and half, smoothie made from sour cherry juice, plain Greek yogurt, hemp protein powder, almond butter, farm strawberries, mango, and farm lettuce. I wonder how ricotta cheese would go in a smoothie? I have some left over. (Well, whaddya know-- check out "Bone Builder" in this article. Although none of the smoothies here sound particularly inspired.) Cup of decaf with half and half while finishing news, etc., before shower.
At noontime, after yoga class, another cup of coffee while settling down with my computer to write. I don't feel like working. I feel like maybe reading and taking a nap. We'll see. Meanwhile, I have some lunch: leftover lasagna (half the size of last night's portion, so 1/8 lasagna), and some salted cashews. End up kind-of-working: doing research for a fairly lightweight blog post. Have another cup of decaf with half and half.
At noontime, after yoga class, another cup of coffee while settling down with my computer to write. I don't feel like working. I feel like maybe reading and taking a nap. We'll see. Meanwhile, I have some lunch: leftover lasagna (half the size of last night's portion, so 1/8 lasagna), and some salted cashews. End up kind-of-working: doing research for a fairly lightweight blog post. Have another cup of decaf with half and half.
A little after four, I turn my efforts to dinner: I'm starting a new cookbook!: Best-ever Curry Cookbook (2001) from Mridula Baljekar. So I need to marinate the chicken for the first recipe: the Kashmiri Chicken Curry. Right away there are a couple of issues. First, as I mentioned, I was unable to find any kashmiri spice paste at the grocery. So I just substitute some good old garam masala. That is probably wrong and I probably should have looked up what kashmiri spice paste might consist of, tried to cobble some ingredients together to approximate it. (Belatedly, here it is: it is different from garam masala in including fennel, fenugreek, red chilis, turmeric, and bay leaves, while it does not contain cardamom or cloves, at least according to the recipes I looked at. Sounds a bit more savory, less with the "sweet" spices.) Also, I thought for sure I had 5-spice powder-- for years and years I had a big bag of it that I never, ever used, because I don't really like 5-spice powder. Now it seems to be gone. I may have thrown it out. What is 5-spice powder doing in an Indian recipe, anyway?? In any case, I don't have any. I skip it. (Belated answer: they probably meant this, which is actually Indian, not this, the Chinese kind. Who knew?) Third, the recipe calls for 8 "joints" of chicken. For some reason, when I went grocery shopping, I did not look up what might be meant by this, but instead assumed it meant 8 whole chicken legs (including thigh and drumstick). Today, looking at my mountain of meat, it occurred to me that 8 joints probably just means 8 pieces. And actually, I had bought 10 whole chicken legs, forgotten that I meant to keep 2 of them back for another weekend dinner, and put all 10 into the marinade. I have not nearly enough marinade, and enough chicken to feed an army. I do not know what I was thinking. About any of it.
Ginger, lemon, garlic.
While the chicken marinates in its measly quantity of all-wrong spice paste, I start on a glass of white wine left over from last night's mushroom-glazing. The rest of the meal consists of plain white rice, and some vegetables I have lying around (young onions, peas and beet greens from the CSA, sauteed with just some turmeric, salt and cayenne pepper). Cooking the mountain of chicken proves a time-consuming chore, because I cannot brown it all at once in my wok, and then it takes extra simmering time due to the multiple layers. It tastes OK, not exciting. Next time, I won't make so many stupid mistakes.
Later in the evening, we finish off the last two portions of the rhubarb "cheesecake" I made last night. Strangely, it has improved in flavor and texture from the previous night. Well, I guess cheesecake generally does. But nobody ever indicates this in their recipes. I need the reminder.
Later in the evening, we finish off the last two portions of the rhubarb "cheesecake" I made last night. Strangely, it has improved in flavor and texture from the previous night. Well, I guess cheesecake generally does. But nobody ever indicates this in their recipes. I need the reminder.