thirty flirty and thriving

When in doubt, put an egg on it.

More kimchi tofu stew + even more rice + one sunny side up egg so it's breakfast now.

Lunch appetizer ended up being Joyce's challah French toast and two oolong shortbread cookies, not pictured because it was eaten on the one block walk home... which was actually a feat because the walk from hers to mine is entirely uphill and I had to trade off inhaling challah schmeared in coconut cream for breathing oxygen to stay alive.

I went through this caesar salad phase in college thanks to Christy. Throughout pretty much the entirety of junior year, I would get a caesar salad box for lunch every other day if not every day after she reminded me of their existence as the best salad in the world. The main draw was truly the romaine lettuce, so crisp, so refreshing. At least in theory. It was still campus cafe food after all... 

I love bland leaves. The blander the better honestly - romaine, iceberg, butter, red and green lettuce. I like to eat my water as much as I like to drink it. And then you add on the pure msg/salt that is parmesan and crunchy carbs. This is a well-balanced college student lunch as far as I'm concerned. You almost don't even need the dressing. Almost. 

I'm not sure when I learned that caesar dressing contained anchovies, but that pretty much sums up my love for it. I used to just full on dunk the leaves into the thick dressing and scoop it out like guac on chips. I can feel your judgment and I don't care.

I had a hodgepodge of leftover leaves from CSA box and had just picked up some Korean anchovy broth from Joyce, so of course caesar salad would enter my head. I mean, to be honest, caesar salad entered my head as soon as I saw the romaine, but I for some inexplicable reason do not have jarred anchovies in the fridge.

Although, the anchovy broth was not strong enough to overpower the main ingredient and my other obsession (I really throw this word around a lot when it comes to food, but I mean it every time) - miso.

miso caesar dressing

1 yolk

1T lemon juice

4 crushed dried garlic pieces (or I mean... normal minced garlic)

~1tsp mustard (I only have spicy brown, but dijon would be preferable)

1T anchovy broth

1T miso

several grinds of pepper

-whisk in enough avo oil to consistency you like

salad pieces

a mess of bland leaves

canned sardines

parmesan shavings

croissant croutons (old croissant cut up and toasted)

scallion scapes (because they're there)

several more grinds of pepper

generous blobs of dressing

still more dressing

even more dressing to dunk your leaves into

-garnish with broccoli flower ;)

Eaten with chopsticks because apparently I just eat salads with chopsticks now, while listening to the very first Gastropod episode about cutlery.

Day 30 culminated in three mini pizzas from three snuggly sourdough dough balls.

Two topped with sauce and mozz leftover from hot pocket day. And the last one with fragrant* butter + scallions + sardines + dried garlic pieces + more scallion but fresh.

I'm going to blame the limit of my oven for the fact that the crust isn't bubbled and blistered, but I'm going to pat myself on the back for the chewy full bodied crust. Which would be best eaten dipped in ranch. But since I don't have ranch (sorry Christy)... miso caesar dressing to the rescue.

Eaten while ruminating about research and ricotta.

*sichuan spices toasted in butter