smushed chickpea love

I have a feeling that February is not going to be a terribly restful month.  Lucky me, it's the shortest month of the year, so even though I anticipate a lot of unsettledness and crowding, at least I can face it armed with the knowledge that it will end.

Since I didn't get too much accomplished yesterday, packing-wise, I pretty much devoted all of today (except for the time spent at Salon Sugar, having my grays camouflaged and cut) to packing.  I got all my music books packed, as well as one small bookshelf.  The big bookshelf may have to be a Me&Mister collaboration, since at least half those books are his and I don't want to just go around deciding which of his books to keep and which to donate...

The main problem I'm running into is the growing City of Boxes.  Fortunately, they can be stacked on top of one another, but eventually they will give me anxiety.  Miraculously, all of the things that are now in boxes that are beginning to take over my living room and bedroom actually had A Place, and since I've displaced them, they're just clutter again.  I'm cutting this week as a loss, in terms of taking things to the thrift store, but I think I'll spend most of next weekend filtering out what is definitely not following us down the street and moving it to the thrift store.  At least that way, we'll have more room for boxes!

Although I usually make a relatively time-consuming dinner on Sundays, 'cause I can, I made something short and sweet tonight instead. 

Lemony Garlic Chickpea Patties from Vegan on the Cheap, served with roasted red potatoes I tossed with olive oil and Mediterranean Seasoning from my trip out west.  To make the patties, I got to use two happy kitchen toys tools: my food processor and my new burger press.  It is so fun to smush those little round balls of almost-burger! 

The "dough" seemed like it was going to be too dry to hold everything together (since the only liquid was 3 Tbsp lemon juice), so I added a bit more lemon juice.  All told, I used the juice of two Meyer lemons and it definitely dominated from the first bite, but not in a bad way, just in a "Oh, hey, there's the lemon" kind of way.

This pan is a secondary vision of Mister's Heaven: A roasting pan full of potatoes, generously decorated with herbs, spices, and salt.  I gave in and bought one of those adorable bags of tiny red potatoes, which lengthened the scrubbing process but decreased the chopping time.  They came out really well - crispy outside, squishy inside, and well-seasoned.

After dinner, I just couldn't get back into the groove, so I think we're finished packing for the evening.  Angst is trying to help - he already has one of his pillows (and himself) in a box.

fortunate locations

Although there have definitely been some moments when me, the right place, and the right time have all come together, I assure you, it was probably a lucky accident.  I am generally late to the party, last to join the dance, getting there just a minute past the excitement.  Heavens, even the "coincidental" encounters I had with my husband before we were even dating were choreographed by his sisters/my best friends like a high schooler's attempt to write a sequel to "The Parent Trap."

Perhaps I need to be more trusting, but leaving things to chance just isn't how I roll.  I'm afraid I'll miss something (like the bus) and be left out in the cold (below freezing for days now) or at the very least, hungry (due to a broth drought).  Once in a while, all the little pieces come together and make me think that sometimes, I don't have to have everything pinned down.

Yesterday, I was clearing out my already-pretty-bare cupboard to make space for the pantry items I picked up at Superfresh.  Upon discovering the last few fortune cookies from our Chinese take-out dinner last week, I decided to eat them, and of course, read the fun fortunes.  I got some real winners:

"You will go on vacation soon."  Really?  And who is going to pay for that?

"Handsome is as handsome does."  Apparently, Forrest Gump is in the fortune-writing business these days...

"Stop searching forever, happiness is just next to you."  Finally, a good old-fashioned fortune.  I thought about going with the spirit of the fortune and saying something mushy to Mister, but when I realized where I was, I thought it was much more fun to take my fortune 100% literally.

I was standing just next to the coffeemaker.  Yes....happiness, with a tiny taste of bitterness to balance it all out.

As I was drinking my matcha and eating my breakfast this morning (an Ambrosia apple and a Cinnamon-Date Scone), I visited my favorite website to hate - weather.com - and discovered that the reason I didn't have ANY water, even for a shower, was because it was 7 degrees out.  I didn't even look to see what the "real feel" was.  When it's in the single digits, it starts to not matter.  Anyway, I timed things so I could catch a bus a few blocks north of my home that would take me, warmly, most of the way to the train station.  However, per my usual luck, the bus was not running on time.  I stood at the stop for a moment, then decided it was in my better interest to keep going and see if the bus caught up with me.  It didn't, but just as I thought my nose was going to freeze into a solid block of ice and fall right off my face, I reached an intersection at exactly the same time that a westbound bus was pulling up.  Talk about ending up in the right place at the right time!

So, aside from the train running late enough for me to miss the connecting bus and have to call my work to get a ride, it seems I've had a pretty fortunate 24 hours, doesn't it?  Well, there are no buses home at the time my evening train pulls in, and by the time I was cold enough to be willing to catch a cab, there were none.  I froze my way home, changed into my cozy yoga pants and hoodie, my heart set on making the Chickpea-Polenta Stew...only to discover that I utterly neglected to pick up polenta yesterday.

Fortunately, I have a loving husband who volunteered to run out and get it for me (probably because he didn't realize exactly how darn cold it is out there).  After a while, I started to worry and feel bad because it occurred to me that he had probably been gone so long because he didn't get to Essene before it closed and was now running all over our neighborhood looking for polenta or broth.  I sat in my warmer home and wished him home, which eventually worked.  There was no polenta, nor was there broth (I kind of knew that already), and not even Tofurky sausage...but there was a big bag of falafel and fries!

We are blessed to live so close to Maoz Vegetarian.  In the summer months, we frequently walk to the little storefront, stand in a line that can stretch out the door, just to get some falafel with fixin's and a cone of steak fries to enjoy on the South Street bridge for a little urban nighttime picnic.  In the winter, we're not huge on the take-out options unless it's the Chinese place that is literally 15 seconds from our front door.  I was glad it was there tonight though - it smelled so good and so warm.

So, no fun cooking stories tonight - Mister made dinner and it was fabulous.  Now I have to go take a shower since there probably won't be any water in the morning again and you can't stink in an office.

Lebanese red is akin to Chianti (but not quite as good)

In celebration of our final night off together, Mister and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner at our favorite Lebanese restaurant, Cedars, and a movie: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

We had intended to see Underworld in the theater, but to be honest, I'm glad we rented it - I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoy other crappy films noir (for example, my unreasonable love for The Crow: City of Angels), but Mister seemed quite underwhelmed. Whatever - Rhona Mitra was astonishingly beautiful, so I was able to overlook Kate Beckinsale's absence. There were also a lot of great one-liners, primarily delivered by Bill Nighy's character, Viktor.

Our dinner at Cedars was delightful, as it always is. The service there cannot be beat - friendly, intimate, accommodating. Also, the food you get is worth far more than what they charge (don't tell them I said that!). I had mentioned wanting to try the Lebanese red wine they offered, and I decided Monday would be the night I finally made good on my intention. It was dry, had some of the sparkle of Chianti but the darker flavors of Merlot...it was okay, but nothing special and I probably won't get it again. As is our custom, we started with a mixed appetizer plate of falafel, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, baba ganoush, and pita. Mister also got fries with peppers & onions, and for his entree he ordered spanakopita with a side of rice. I believe I have become incapable of ordering something other than the Imam Baldi. It is just so good - roasted eggplant with other roasted/braised veggies - acorn squash, carrots, zucchini, celery, potatoes - sprinkled with raisins and feta cheese...so good. Appropriate, since "Imam Baldi" translates to "the Imam fainted." Legend goes that an Imam visited some folks who prepared this roasted eggplant dish, and the scent of the food alone knocked him out. I would agree!

Today was a long and tiring day, and being a Wednesday, I had a peanut butter sandwich for "dinner" tonight (I finished my cheerios on Monday, too). However, I did make the Mediterranean (Mock) Risotto for dinner last night:Let me tell you - the flavors were very intense. I might even say too intense, and I believe I would have Mister's support in making that statement. He did his best to get through it with the help of some bread to calm the flavors. Honestly, I think there was too much of two ingredients: white pepper and sun-dried tomatoes. I will attempt this again in the future and cut down on those things to see how it turns out, but I will share it with you now. One more note, before I give you my recipe: although I have cooked barley on several occasions now, Mister revealed to me just last night that he doesn't like "squishy wheat."

Mediterranean (mock) Risotto
about 6 servings
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup pearled barley
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup sliced roasted peppers
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
1 generous tsp dried basil
pinch of white pepper

Bring vegetable broth to a boil. Stir in barley and basil, cover and simmer on lowest heat 45 minutes. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and add them with the white pepper in the last 15 minutes of cooking. After 45 minutes, stir in roasted peppers and olives, cook until heated through and most liquid is absorbed - about 5 more minutes.

It's actually pretty simple and doesn't require a whole lot of hands-on time. The recipe above contains the revisions I will make next time regarding the amounts of white pepper and sun-dried tomatoes, so if you want to give it a try, just tell me how yours ended up!