vegetables and tofu

 If you freeze thaw tofu, drain it thoroughly, and deep fry it... it makes an amazing snack or accompaniment to any meal.

No pantry items were really consumed, but this was a fridge clean out meal at its finest.

dirty rice but make it Asian:

reserved bacon fat

dried bamboo

spam

suimiyacai

okra from splitting groceries with Gill

fried tofu in sweet corn chili sauce:

firm tofu

corn chili sauce leftover from Elisa's dumplings

tamarind sauce from Athena's mom

cabbage and chrysanthemum salad:

cabbage

chrysanthemum greens from my patio garden <3

perilla from my patio garden <3

garlic

tamarind sauce from Athena's mom

spam

an unexpected ordeal

I like the way you called me on your way home from dinner. In the little window of time where you were alone. You let me in on your quiet drive. It's always in little windows of time when I least expect it.

I like hearing your voice because it's soothing. I can hear your eyes roll through the phone - it's paired with your specific staccato laugh when I say something ridiculous.

I like how we flow, at one moment wading in the shallow end, diving far into the deep end in another. Exchanging traumas for compassion. Then you lay out your hours for me brick by brick, and I like that I can experience the whole picture.

You make me want to stay up until 3am to talk about nothing. And you remind me that affection can be playful and silly.

You give me that giddy-when-I-see-your-name kind of joy. And I will float on this crush for as long as I can.

Hokkaido soup curry with chicken fat rice.

Fried enoki, eggplant, kabocha, lotus root, okra, broccolini.

Scallion pancakes.

broccoli bits

I got two bunches of broccoli that were mostly stem, and I couldn't just compost them... 

selected pantry items:

chickpeas

harissa

sunflower seeds

garlic chili oil

accessories:

broccoli

sesame paste

lemon juice

garlic

corn tortillas

parsley

broccoli tacos and broccoli stem hummus

pretzel practice

The remaining jar of cashews went into a vegan cheese sauce because that's what it was used for last time, and now I have a free jar to repurpose for something else.

We call this pretzel practice because they came out just a little too bready, very much not browned enough, and so swollen they are barely identifiable as pretzels. Apparently you need to roll them out to pencil thickness to end with normal soft pretzel puffiness.

At least the calabrian cashew cheese dip was good.

selected pantry items:

cashews

dried corn

nutritional yeast

calabrina chili

corn meal

sunflower seeds

accessories:

bacon fat

kale

rainy day lentil soup

A bowel moving meal that spanned a couple days. Proud of myself for using up the jar of lentils so now the jar is free for me to make sauces in.

selected pantry items:

lentils

garam masala

turmeric

mustard powder

accessories:

kale

celery

onion

tomato paste

parsley

spicy lemon pickles