keep on creepin' on

I'm so glad it's Thursday.  I can't wait until tomorrow (evening) when I can begin my weekend.  I have high hopes for my productivity level, so hopefully I'll get at least half of what I want to do done.  Some of it is fun stuff, like visiting our new home (we have keys!) and mapping it out with measuring tape and photos so I can start arranging things in my brain (and on graph paper).  Maybe we'll even visit IKEA...  Perhaps with that inspiration backing me, I'll regain my motivation to put things in boxes.  I plan to spend a large part of Sunday walking up and down my steps, delivering oodles of unwanteds to the thrift store and burning off my wine and chocolate calories.

Oh yes, there will be wine and chocolate.

Tonight, I got a head-start on my Montepulciano and shortly, I will nibble at my dark chocolate Bug Bite, but for now, let's talk about dinner.

Call it poor planning or call it delusional optimism (I'm partial to the latter), but I really should have incorporated more quick cooking foods into this menu.  I don't expect to create a full menu tomorrow night, but there will still be a couple of days next week I can still cook, and I fully intend to hold off on anything that might possibly take longer than 30 minutes to prepare.  I have lost my oomph.  I'm tired and a little frustrated by work (does that ever change?) and due to factors beyond my control (namely, SEPTA's difficulty running their trains and buses on schedule), I've been getting home around 9pm the past few days.  Getting home at 9pm really does not inspire me to cook no matter how much I enjoy it.  It's hard to believe there was a time (for over a year, too!) that I would get home from work shortly before 1am and make "dinner," to be eaten around 2:30ish.  We were a little nocturnal in those days...

Sometimes, I kind of miss those days.  Like when I feel like I'm too young to feel this damn old.

Anyway, before this goes downhill, look how decadent our dinner was!

The only dinner in recent memory that can compete with Orecchiette with Cherry Tomatoes and Kalamata Tapenade from Vegan with a Vengeance is Dynise's Vegan Carbonara Sauce of DOOM, which I'm pretty sure will have a long and prosperous reign as the fattiest sauce I've ever made.

This time I used shells in the absence of orecchiette.  They cupped the sauce far better than the farfalle I used last time, resulting in a far richer dish than I was expecting.  Fortunately, this kept Mister and I at reasonably normal portions.

On another note, my brain has been running all over the nooks and crannies of the most recent incarnation of the GMO controversy, so unless I get way overzealous with my packing (AKA, resign myself to being a responsible adult so we actually can move next weekend), I'm planning to explore my own opinions on the matter.  Feel free to provide any pre-feedback or suggested reading in the comments. 

For now, though, I leave you with the image of an adorably worn-out sleeping kitty.  I love how he's holding his feet.