Breakfast was more leftovers: leftover chicken, leftover rice, leftover oatmeal. There is hardly anything in the house. Husband and daughter got leftovers in their lunches too; daughter also took some cheese and crackers. She said: "Do you think you'll go shopping today, at all?"
Went off to my restaurant job to serve food to other people. Sadly, very few other people showed up today. I made a record low amount of money serving on a morning shift (9:00-2:00): $70. Still $14/hour so I can't complain too much. But it's a lot less than I usually make.
Lunch (once I got home): 2 boiled eggs, a piece of toast (Rudi's 7-Grain with Flax) with melted pepper jack cheese, carrot sticks from the CSA. That was literally almost all there was in the house; I didn't want to eat the carrot as I was saving them for tonight, but needed to have some kind of fruit or vegetable. I will indeed go to the store later on.
Before dinner, I go to the neighborhood natural foods coop, about 2 blocks from my house. Purchases: 1/2 gallon Organic Valley lactose-free 1% milk, 1/2 gallon regional brand of organic whole milk, 2 boxes of Field Day cereal (wheat squares & raisin bran), half lb. of roasted unsalted mixed nuts in bulk, half lb. of sulfured apricots in bulk (oops, sulfured?), 6 Oh My Yog individual yogurts (assorted flavors), a whole pineapple, 2 boneless pork chops, a dozen cage-free eggs, and 4 enormous local apples. Total $55. My family require cereal and yogurt to be present in the house, although I consume very little of them personally (but: 2 bowls of cereal last night? Why?). The rest reasonably accords with my new ideals...
Dinner: stirfry made with local pork, veggies from the CSA (carrots, broccoli, garlic, and spinach) as well as ginger and scallions from the supermarket. Short-grain white rice, plain with salt and pepper. The meal was delicious (recipe to follow). Prepping CSA vegetables brings up some old-fashioned problems. Organic farm broccoli frequently contains cabbage worms, often still living even after lengthy refrigeration. The spinach was sandy and needed washing in several changes of water. To address the cabbage worm problem: prepare a big bowl of heavily salted water. Inspect broccoli carefully and break into florets, looking at each one to find and remove any obvious cabbage worms. They will hide under the leaves and in any cranny. Then soak the florets in the salted water for a while (10-20 minutes perhaps), swishing around occasionally. If there are tiny cabbage worms, they will let go of the broccoli and float up to the surface of the water. This also salts the broccoli nicely for cooking. Proceed.
Slicing the pork into thin strips for the stirfry reminded me of my dad, and stirfries past. My dad's meat strips were always beautifully thin and long, ready to maximize surface area and sauce. And every time I try, and fail, to slice something thinly, to julienne or mince perfectly, I think of what my paternal grandfather's new wife said to me while I was in graduate school and visiting: can you chop garlic like your father? Well, yes and no. I knew the basic technique, had been taught by him how to hold the clove together in my fingers while I sliced first horizontally, then vertically, then in the final dimension. But could I ever mince it as finely? No, not then, and not now either. I think I do not care enough.
Snacks: 5 cups of coffee (3 regular, 2 decaf) with half and half, 1 glass Riesling; then (before bed), a handful of unsalted mixed nuts, 4 dried apricots. Should I cut down on the coffee?
Went off to my restaurant job to serve food to other people. Sadly, very few other people showed up today. I made a record low amount of money serving on a morning shift (9:00-2:00): $70. Still $14/hour so I can't complain too much. But it's a lot less than I usually make.
Lunch (once I got home): 2 boiled eggs, a piece of toast (Rudi's 7-Grain with Flax) with melted pepper jack cheese, carrot sticks from the CSA. That was literally almost all there was in the house; I didn't want to eat the carrot as I was saving them for tonight, but needed to have some kind of fruit or vegetable. I will indeed go to the store later on.
Before dinner, I go to the neighborhood natural foods coop, about 2 blocks from my house. Purchases: 1/2 gallon Organic Valley lactose-free 1% milk, 1/2 gallon regional brand of organic whole milk, 2 boxes of Field Day cereal (wheat squares & raisin bran), half lb. of roasted unsalted mixed nuts in bulk, half lb. of sulfured apricots in bulk (oops, sulfured?), 6 Oh My Yog individual yogurts (assorted flavors), a whole pineapple, 2 boneless pork chops, a dozen cage-free eggs, and 4 enormous local apples. Total $55. My family require cereal and yogurt to be present in the house, although I consume very little of them personally (but: 2 bowls of cereal last night? Why?). The rest reasonably accords with my new ideals...
Dinner: stirfry made with local pork, veggies from the CSA (carrots, broccoli, garlic, and spinach) as well as ginger and scallions from the supermarket. Short-grain white rice, plain with salt and pepper. The meal was delicious (recipe to follow). Prepping CSA vegetables brings up some old-fashioned problems. Organic farm broccoli frequently contains cabbage worms, often still living even after lengthy refrigeration. The spinach was sandy and needed washing in several changes of water. To address the cabbage worm problem: prepare a big bowl of heavily salted water. Inspect broccoli carefully and break into florets, looking at each one to find and remove any obvious cabbage worms. They will hide under the leaves and in any cranny. Then soak the florets in the salted water for a while (10-20 minutes perhaps), swishing around occasionally. If there are tiny cabbage worms, they will let go of the broccoli and float up to the surface of the water. This also salts the broccoli nicely for cooking. Proceed.
Slicing the pork into thin strips for the stirfry reminded me of my dad, and stirfries past. My dad's meat strips were always beautifully thin and long, ready to maximize surface area and sauce. And every time I try, and fail, to slice something thinly, to julienne or mince perfectly, I think of what my paternal grandfather's new wife said to me while I was in graduate school and visiting: can you chop garlic like your father? Well, yes and no. I knew the basic technique, had been taught by him how to hold the clove together in my fingers while I sliced first horizontally, then vertically, then in the final dimension. But could I ever mince it as finely? No, not then, and not now either. I think I do not care enough.
Snacks: 5 cups of coffee (3 regular, 2 decaf) with half and half, 1 glass Riesling; then (before bed), a handful of unsalted mixed nuts, 4 dried apricots. Should I cut down on the coffee?