unexpected blessing?

Today has been an up-and-down kind of day.  I have decided to donate my faithful little car to Purple Heart this week.  Even if it would be an easy fix, I haven't moved the car an inch in over three weeks and I just don't trust it anymore.  The past three weeks have proven that I am not as dependent on my car as I thought I was, and although I regret not being able to just hop in my car during a break at work to go to Starbucks, I didn't do that nearly as often as I thought about doing it.  I cleaned out the last personal effects this evening and I was astonished at how irrationally melancholy it made me.  After all, it's just a car.

not as pretty as the Audi, I know

It's not even a very attractive car, but it has been my car for half the time I've been driving and longer than the three cars I had before it.  It's a little bizarre to feel nostalgic or emotionally attached to a car, but it served me well for many years, giving me no trouble until May, which is why I tried so hard to save it.

I have wanted to be done with a car for years and I do feel liberated, not having to navigate traffic disasters and construction zones, not having to circle my neighborhood like a mechanical vulture waiting for someone to vacate a parking space so I can actually go home after work.  I think the way I'm feeling about my poor car's departure could best be described as a feeling of homesickness.  Maybe you can relate, or maybe you're more convinced than ever that I'm not in full possession of my mind.

Anyway, after I said goodbye to my little car, I made Thai **** Green Garden from Vegan Express for dinner.  Like I said I would, I sauteed the vegetables in peanut and sesame oil and instead of laying the vegetables over a bed of jasmine rice, I soaked some rice stick noodles.  I mixed together the peanut sauce from Vegan on the Cheap and served in my very fashionable measuring cup.  I tried to find a gravy boat but I've misplaced them (yes, the vegan has two) somehow.

Mister couldn't eat it.  If what you see above was what you got, it would have been fine, which he prove by getting a new bowl and just putting the vegetables and tofu into it.  There was something about the rice noodles that weirded him out (I loved them) and despite his approval of the peanut noodle salad I made with the same peanut sauce, he could not stand the peanut sauce tonight.  He insisted it was different and explained that last time, the sauce was "chalky" whereas this time it was "slimy."  I'm not sure I appreciate either of those words being applied to something I've made, but at least it wasn't my own recipe, so nothing personal.

Therein lies the disguised blessing - not only was it not personal because I didn't write the recipe for the food he wouldn't eat, but I didn't slave over it for an hour or more.  If Mister doesn't like something from Vegan Express or my other "Blink and Dinner's Ready" cookbooks, it's not that big a deal because I didn't put that much effort into it.  He felt bad that he didn't like dinner (but not that he described something I made as "chalky" or "slimy") so to try to make him stop pouting, I cheerfully pointed out that dinner can only get better as the week progresses!

Sometimes I wonder if my optimism annoys him.  Oh well, just like the noodles and sauce, more for me! 

Speaking of awesome things, I've saved the best for last because I really prefer to end my posts on a positive note.  Today, since it was Sunday and I had plenty of time to devote to breakfast, I made my first oatmeal of the season!  I wanted to make it super-special and had just enough sleep the night before to have capacity for thought this morning (granted, it was nearly noon by the time I had breakfast).  Lucky you, that means there's a recipe attached!

I have been drinking my morning coffee/tea from that Lake Tahoe mug every day for almost three years

Autumn Pear Oatmeal
serves 1 (but very easily multiplied for a family)

1 small red pear, diced (I don't peel, but you're welcome to - you'll get plenty of fiber from the oats)
1/2 tsp cinnamon sugar
1 tsp molasses
1/2 cup dry oatmeal
1 cup nondairy milk (I used So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk)

Heat pears in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until the pieces begin to let go of their juices.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and stir to coat.  Saute for another minute or two, until pears are juicy and tender, then scatter oats over top of them and stir to combine.  Pour in milk and stir to combine.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Stir in molasses and simmer 2-3 minutes, until all liquid has been absorbed by the oatmeal.

Enjoy!  It should be plenty sweet from the molasses, cinnamon sugar, and natural sugars in the pears caramelizing a little, but if you need it sweeter, I'm sure a drizzle of pure maple syrup would be a delightful addition.

Finally, I had a little photo-shoot with my favorite [uncooperative] model today.  Here are a couple of favorites - most of the pictures are blurry because he doesn't like when Mommy points that little silver box at him.

you learn something new every day (if you pay attention)

Today I learned what an incredible difference organic dried basil makes. It smells noticeably better than "regular" dried basil. The flakes are larger and greener, making it look not quite as dried as the grey-leaf variety (I don't think they do that on purpose, though). The difference in taste, though, was absolutely astonishing. You really wouldn't think that a dried herb being organic would make that big of a difference. You would be wrong.

Yesterday, I learned that Angst Loves Salads as much as he loves plain old spinach. As I have probably made clear in several posts in the past 7 weeks, I am in full-on NeedFreshThings mode. As a result of that and my recent Salad Fails (thanks, Wawa), I have reverted to what I know: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That would be less insulting and more accurate, though, if it was:

If you want something done your way, go to Burger King or do it yourself.

Since we're not a big BK family, you can see where this is going. When I set the salads down on the table tonight and returned to the stove to get the soup, I turned around to find Angst sitting in my chair (with impeccable posture), getting dangerously close to my salad. When we eat, he just begs pitifully. We've shared a variety of the mixed greens with him and he seems to enjoy them all, though he is apparently of the opinion that some greens must age, so he'll leave them on the kitchen floor and walk away, but come back in a few minutes acting like it's Christmas and eat them all up.

Anyway, on Sunday night, I made the simply titled Lo Mein from The Accidental Vegan.
I must admit, when I looked at my bowl-o-noodles, I thought it was going to be really bland. I almost brought the tamari to the table in case we needed a little more flavor. I completely underestimated the funny little chinese noodles' ability to soak up the tasty pan sauce after I sauteed the veggies - it was extremely flavorful! I haven't included zucchini in a stir-fry in quite a while, but I was happy with how it came out. Since I have gotten into the habit of assembling our salads while dinner is simmering or doing something else that does not require the constant attention that a stir-fry demands, I just skipped the salads on Sunday.

On Monday, I made Red Lentil Artichoke Stew from The Vegan Table. I also made rice to serve it on top of, but the rice didn't finish cooking until we had finished eating, so it turns out I'm just ahead of the game for the Kedgeree I will make for our final dinner on this menu.
I kind of lost my enthusiasm for this dish in the week it took me to cook it, but once I had the first forkful in my mouth, I gave myself a figurative pat on the back for being able to see from the recipe that this would be a tasty chance to take. It was a delightful main course to follow my beautiful salad:

I dare you to make a prettier one.

Tonight, I made the Potato Corn Chowder from The Accidental Vegan. I've made this a few times before and it never fails to make me warm and happy inside. I am also currently infatuated with the combination of the chilled salad with a soul-warming bowl of steamy soup. I didn't bother with the clementines in our salads tonight, but I liberally sprinkled them with dried cranberries, chopped red pepper, and sliced olives. I think I could probably eat an entire bowl of greens and kalamata olives - the bitterness of some of the darker greens, as well as the sparkle of some of the peppery greens are really enhanced by the salty, yet wine-like flavor of these purple treasures.

The dried cranberries were also tasty, but to make the same claim as above would be like saying, "Wow, this gummy bear sure makes my coffee taste better!"

Speaking of coffee, I had a realization last night: the best part of waking up each day is my oatmeal. My happiness is amplified by the drinking of coffee, but after the coffee, it's more or less downhill from there. Take a shower, beautify, drive an hour to work, spend 8.5ish hours trying to be subtle about pulling my hair out, drive an hour home from work and then loop around my neighborhood several times (up to 45 minutes on top of my commute home, depending on the day) looking for parking, then cook dinner, etc. I guess it starts to pick up a bit there, since I enjoy cooking and the subsequent eating of dinner with my dear hubby.

Anyway, as a result of my revelation, I am consciously trying to enjoy more of my day. My astounding ability to be grumpy must be fought off before it takes over - that was one of the reasons I did Operation Gratitude Attitude in the fall: I wanted to make a habit of finding the silver lining. I may have to revive it in some fashion, perhaps in a new-and-improved form for Lent. In the mean time, if you'd like to read through OGA Part 1, feel free to click on the tag below.

welcome to MY weekend

It's one day long and that day is Wednesday. People with two weekend days off generally use one day to relax and the other to be productive, not necessarily in that order. Not me - I have to figure out how to relax and effectively use the daylight hours I'm not at work in the same day. On the agenda for tomorrow:

grocery shopping
renewing my drivers license
possible clothes shopping adventures, if there's time and I have the spirit (I loathe clothes shopping with the same intensity other women love it)

I would also like to play my piano, read some of the magazines that piled up over the past few months, and play on zillow.com to keep my eyes on the prize.

Speaking of which - this has been a pretty good week so far. I'm gathering my team of sales reps and they seem to be responding well to me and my ridiculously optimistic cheerleading emails (on the hour, every hour). We doubled our performance metrics in two days and that makes me feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be, which is a happy feeling after all the time I spent second-guessing myself. I know this isn't going to be a rose-scented bubble bath, but things are shaping up and I feel like this is going to be a good thing. I'm also simply amazed to see how effective positive feedback and stupid motivational 3-sentence emails can be.

I tried to get harissa again on my way home from work and the closest I got was "Have you checked the Italian Market?" No. I will do that tomorrow, and hopefully, my lady at The Spice Corner will have this elusive North African condiment. So we had Garlic Tofu with Spinach over Pasta tonight. It was way better than I thought it would be, even with the store-brand marinara. It was kind of like vegan Spaghetti-n-Meatballs, but there was no mistaking those browned chunks as anything other than tofu. They tasted fine, but the texture left a little to be desired.

so does this picture, but it was the best one.

Anyway, I should probably share the menu before I start another glass of wine - I decided to start relaxing tonight so I could be more productive tomorrow. It works in my brain.

1. Chili sin Carne al Mole from Vegan with a Vengeance. Personally, I'm just impressed with myself for remembering that "sin" means "without" in Spanish. I am currently intrigued by Mole sauce chilis. The one I made this past week really did not have as pronounced a cocoa flavor as the recipe led me to believe, so I hope this one doesn't disappoint. Of course, it has about six times the amount of the other recipe, so I'm pretty sure I'll notice it this time.

2. BBQ Pomegranate Tofu with Coconut Rice also from VwaV. A serious hankering for this recipe was actually the impetus for starting my menu in VwaV.

3. Chickpea and Spinach Curry also from VwaV. I'll admit - this was actually more sheer laziness than an ardent desire to make this again. I had chosen my two cookbooks for this week and I was going to be goshdarned if I picked up a third. It is a very tasty recipe, though, and I get to squish whole tomatoes with my bare hands.

4. BBQ-Flavored White Beans with Sausage and Spinach from Vegan Express. I think every menu I plan that contains #2 will also contain this recipe because it's a great way to use up the leftover sauce and rice. It's a really great way. Also, I mentioned previously, this is probably one of the fastest recipes I have and I'm counting on at least one day busy enough to need it.

5. Seitan Chow Fun also from Vegan Express and also due, more or less, to laziness. It's been a while since I've made this one, though, so it works out.

Cheers! (I'm practicing for an upcoming birthday...)