days sixteen through nineteen.

here we go.

day sixteen: shira cooked up this amazing lemon rice from bon appetit (we are really putting them to work these days!) it was delicious and lemony and nutty and just awesome.

i put together a salad from bought, borrowed, and stolen. you toss bibb lettuce (i used boston--it's similar in its pillowy nature) with chopped artichokes (in oil) with peas and corn which are boiled just for a minute with the eggs. you add 2 tbsp of olive oil and some sea salt and black pepper and toss the whole thing together. slice the eggs and add a little turmeric to the tops of them.

seriously. this dinner was absolutely incredible.

 day seventeen: taco-deficient we were... so, we sauteed white kidney beans with onions, garlic, and jalapeno and made a little box of spanish rice. the tacos included the bean mixture with radishes and tomatoes and salsa and monterey jack cheese.

 

day eighteen:  vegetarian sushi with carrots, cucumbers, and avocado. a little side of broccoli sauteed in seasame oil with sesame seeds, sea salt, and crushed red pepper.

day nineteen: late, late dinner tacos with alex. i think i put everything i had leftover in the fridge into those tacos. no photos.

days twelve through fifteen.

day twelve: vimala's with april and adam. i mean, we actually ordered almost everything on the menu: sag paneer, naan, vegetarian thali, beers, rose lassi, tandoori things, salady things. i can't remember what it all was. besides delicious. 

day thirteen: i was totally off-course by this point but i swear it's not my fault. casey and i went to raleigh for a birthday party and some bowling (in which i kicked his ass, which is mostly what matters). we eventually retired to the home of the birthday boy and drank the MOST delectable whiskey-and-gingers (maybe with some very strong, very gingery ginger ale or beer) and ate lilly's pizza, which is always mind-blowing. i mean, there are potatoes on the damn thing. holy hot bananas.

day fourteen: we were running off to see lambchop at motorco, so i threw all sorts of vegetables in the skillet--bell peppers, chard, onions, garlic, cabbage, eggplant--as well as chickpeas and some sort of indian curry sauce and pumpkin seeds. this was incredibly fast and totally fulfilling.

day fifteen: so maybe it's not dinner, but i made the best breakfast that i've made in a while. and i swear it's because i PERFECTLY FRIED EGGS in butter and there were delicious, delicious bagels (pumpernickel with sesame seeds!) and tomatoes and cheese and i swear it was stupidly messy and awesome. and worthy of photographs.

dinner was not worthy of photographing but consisted of rice noodles in a nutty, spicy sauce (made from peanut butter, tahini, lemon + lime, salt + braggs, sriracha, garlic), with carrots, onions, bok choy, bell pepper, and garlic in sesame oil. and some homemade chocolate ice cream, my new nemesis (i keep mistiming it).

the list on the fridge is growing with ideas and items for purchase. more to come.

still eating.

the cauliflower continues to be firm and edible. so, i am still consuming it. it's killing me. it's SO MUCH cauliflower. last night, i sauteed it with garlic and onion, added some yellow chard, and mixed it all with fresh, organic tomatoes and aborio rice. it was a version of my meal from 2 nights ago.

cauliflower and broccoli sauteed with garlic and chard and organic tomato sauce (that i bought in the bodega! carroll gardens is fancy like that.) and aborio rice, i think. not as bad as it looks.

like on top chef.

i don't watch top chef. i don't have television, much less cable. but everyone seems to love it. kim challenged me to continue making food without buying anything. this continued to get crazier as we packed more items in the kitchen.

i made short-grain brown rice in vegetable broth instead of water. i sauteed farm-fresh summer squash, sweet corn and peppers, and onion in butter in the cast-iron skillet. i chilled each separately in the refrigerator. i then chopped yellow and red heirloom tomatoes, as well as carrots and basil. it was stirred together to become a lovely cold rice salad.
dessert. blueberry cobbler, made with the frozen blueberries. i used the recipe from last summer. it was enjoyed with chocolate ice cream, haagen-dazs. the best thing in the freezer growing up.
last night, we ordered pizza. there are no utensils, plates, pots, cutting boards, et cetera in the kitchen. it would have been impossible to cook. i move tomorrow and so i plan to resume cooking soon. please stand by during this commercial break.

fried. rice, this time.

as i continue the quest to eat my way out of this house, i discovered a bag of white rice last week. where did it come from? no idea. but it was there, and momentarily, became the starch of choice. i mean, who wants to move a bag of rice?

kim asked if i could do something exciting with it, like make fried rice, she said. ok.

blake had been the fried ricer in my last place, and i had never done it before. and i messed up on the first attempt. well, a little mess. i sauteed carrots, bok choy, onions, eggplant, and wax beans with garlic and chili oil. nervously, i removed the mixture from the wok onto a plate.

a rice experiment came next. the white rice was cooked, and the internet says (in some recipes) that the cook will fry the egg into the rice. i tried this, cracking the egg over the rice in the oily pot, but it seemed as though the rice sort of absorbed the egg, but in a way that made me think it was still uncooked. so i trashed it.

i added a little more oil to the wok and poured in an an already-scrambled egg. it cooked up immediately and then poured the rice in, and stirred until properly mixed. finally, the vegetables.

it was quite formidable, and better than the greasy god-knows-what they sell in those walk-in chinese food establishments. i ate the leftovers cold for lunch the next day.