hit a wall

That's it.  I'm done.  There's only so much a girl can take before she gives up and orders pizza.

Dinner is brought to you (actually, ME) this evening by Blackbird Pizza

The Yukon Pizza - paper thin slices of potato, sprinkled with fresh rosemary, cracked pepper, and coarse sea salt on a thin crust that balloons out to what could be a breadstick on the edge - is definitely my favorite so far.  I've had plain Daiya cheese, seitan sausage, and avocado as toppings, and Mister and I tried the hand-cut fries and cheese steaks shortly after they opened.

glamour shot...it's like there are potato chips on my pizza

I am exhausted and worn out and stressed to the max.  I can only convince myself to return tomorrow because I have an absurd sense of duty/work ethic and a strong desire to behave as an adult in contexts where that is appropriate.  It doesn't hurt to remember that when I walk out those doors tomorrow night, I won't set foot in that building until the new year.  I don't think I have ever needed or earned a break more than I have this past month.

It seems like people naturally put on weight this time of year, especially people I work with.  It's a little ironic, considering we work for a weight loss company, but I think I've cracked the code and it's not the parties.  December is absolutely the busiest month of my year, as well as the mid-level management as they/we struggle to get everything ready for the busyness we anticipate will occur the minute Christmas (read: eating holiday) is over.  Although I generally put a lot of care into the way I fuel my body, and although I recognize that machines run better on good fuel than "cheap" gas, there is something to be said for the sheer, ridiculous comfort "junk food" can provide.  Additionally, the closer we get to Christmas, the more cookies and snacks find their way into the building, on to my desk, and into my belly.  Hopefully, this crap will refrain from setting up camp, but regardless of that unpleasant possibility, I just don't like eating junk.

But it tastes so good sometimes.

And it's so available.  Someone, get the cookies off my desk.

Regardless of the occasional and fleeting guilt I feel about eating more cookies than fruit this month, I have given up on trying to behave - I'll detox next month.  This must be how holiday weight gain occurs: you get to a point where you are just too stressed out to care or you feel like you "deserve" a cookie or you just stand in your kitchen with absolutely no desire to cook even though you have this amazing recipe you can't wait to make.

It'll have to wait until tomorrow. 

I like the way you think, Angst.

is corn the devil?

No! Wait!  Don't run away!  This won't be another CORN IS EVIL post to add to the rest of the propaganda you've carefully placed in the circular file.  I don't think corn is making America fat - overeating is what's making America fat.

I just kind of dislike cornstarch once in a while.  That's all.

Cornstarch is another one of those things with which I have a love-dislike relationship.  On the one hand, it makes baked goods surprisingly more squishy (in a good way) and has the magical power to thicken sauces.  On the other hand, if added to sauces "incorrectly," it has the magical power to form little tapioca-looking globs that do not look at all appetizing.  Also, it makes tofu stick together.

Tonight's dinner was Better-Than-Takeout Tofu Stir-Fry from Vegan on the Cheap.  The recipe instructed me to cube the tofu, sprinkle it with what I felt was an excessive amount of cornstarch, and then "toss to coat."  Easier said than done, friends.  If you've never done this, let me make two recommendations.

1. DON'T
2. If you insist on ignoring my first suggestion, for the love of all things beautiful, use something other than your hands to "toss to coat."  This bears repeating if you have beautiful, long fingernails that tofu and cornstarch could lodge themselves underneath.

I still don't know exactly what the point of that little adventure was.  It was probably supposed to make a nice crispy outside for the tofu but I messed it up somehow.  It was crispy, but nothing that couldn't have been achieved without making the huge mess I made.  Also, I have mixed feelings about unnecessary additions to food.  The sauce was outstanding and Mister was completely psyched about the broccoli, so we'll definitely have this again, but next time, I'll probably just saute the tofu sans messy white powder (okay, that didn't quite come out the right way).

As busy as I've been this week, it looks like the next two weeks are going to be even crazier... I'm in a little bit of a conundrum in terms of the upcoming weekend and new menu planning.  Maybe, if you're so inclined, you could offer some assistance.  I am growing increasingly exhausted and worn out as the days pass, to the point where only our financial situation has kept me from ordering pizza (since I pass Blackbird on the way home from work) or dragging Mister out to Maoz or Cedars.  I am contemplating doing something I have never done before: making a week's worth of dinner on Sunday and refrigerating/freezing it until it's time to eat it.  The main reason this idea is unattractive to me, though, is because I enjoy cooking - it actually helps me to relax sometimes.  I guess I could do a combination of make-ahead and fast-cooking dinners as a middle ground.

What do you do about dinner when your life gets super busy?

home is where the...wine is

It's getting to be That Time of Year.  If you turn back the cyber-pages of this little blog and travel back to my December 2009 and January 2010 posts, you'll find a lot of babbling, random, which-way-is-up posts, as well as my justification: I work for a weight loss company and we're gearing up for Diet Season.  Today, I learned that in order to make sure we get everything done between now and mid-December, I will need to create at least three clones of myself for one of the weeks, and no fewer than two of me will be necessary for most weeks.

While on the train on my way home from a completely overwhelming day, my brain re-inflated enough for me to remember to take a short detour on my walk home from the train station to pick up a nice mini-bottle of Beaujolais (which I am presently halfway through).  Unfortunately, Angst can't blame the following pictures on Mommy's Special Juice...just the deteriorating capacity to reason.

That hat was on my head while I walked home, but after I put on my glasses, Mister (who wears glasses and beanie hats) decided we all needed to look like a family and put the Hat on the Cat

Angst doesn't seem to like wearing hats, so he probably hopes we got it all out of our system.

After playing Dress-Up with the kitty, I brushed myself off while he nursed his ego-wounds and started dinner.  Apparently, New York saw its first flakes of snow today, but in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, it was just gloomy rain.  It did stop before I got home, but everything was damp, including the air, and just the exhaustive nature of the day all by itself was quite enough to warrant Homey Vegetable Stew with Dumplings from The 30 Minute Vegan. 

I've made this before, but my dumplings were much prettier this time and it still impresses me that those lumps of sticky dough really do steam into a solid biscuit.  They are sinfully simple to make - there are five ingredients in the dumplings and only slightly more in the stew.  I think what I like the most about these dumplings is that they are made with spelt flour, which give them a savory flavor I can really only describe as "real."

The whole stew is remarkably rich.  There isn't a whole lot of broth, especially when you take away the part that made sticky dough into biscuits.  Perhaps it is the concentrated nature of the broth that makes it so good, but Mister and I happily ate two bowls each and I am already anticipating the leftovers for WorkLunch tomorrow.  Hopefully, I will have more time tomorrow than the ten minutes I had today to wolf down my lunch, because this should be savored.

On another note, while I'm running around at work like tofu with my head cut off, I am gratified to come home each night and find that while he started with the entry/dining area, Mister appears to be working his way through the apartment, cleaning up the messes that have accumulated in recent months.  I know I don't have the energy for that kind of ridiculous behavior right now!  I'll happily bring home the seitan if he'll keep my home straightened up.  I love how far we've come in the reversal/dismissal of traditional gender roles during my lifetime.  Now, if only we could find a way for Mister to carry and bear a child, I might find a way to become interested in parenting ;)

I think the wine is getting to me...