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

blt salad and almond cake

I tossed the last head of romaine, the last tomato, and the last two slices of mozzarella in a bowl with a scoop of wheat berries that boiled in bulk with the intention of making salad grain bowls. And then I ventured out to get a package of bacon because I was looking at an almost-BLT salad.

selected pantry items:

wheat berries

champagne vinegar

tinned anchovy oil

accessories:

romaine

tomatoes

mozzerella

bacon

 

Desperate desire to finish using my bag of almond flour + forgetting about it in the oven for it to overbake slightly resulted in this ideal breakfast cake.

selected pantry items:

almond flour

poppy seeds

accessories:

greek yogurt

cherry syrup