A Holby in the District

Sometimes, great cooking is what’s on your mind. There was a great article in this week’s Dining Section of the New York Times about how America is the only place in the world where cold cereal is considered an acceptable dinner. Admit it – you’ve eaten cold cereal for dinner at least a few times. I know I have…sometimes there’s nothing like a bowl of frosted mini-wheats to make the evening that much more special, haha. Anyway, after getting home tonight and while cleaning up, this article appeared atop some newspaper I was tossing in our recycling area. The recipe for polenta (grits) and fried eggs called to me like a siren to Odysseus and his men, so I turned on the stove and began working away. I thirded the recipe, (is that even a word?), and eyeballed most of the spices because it was so late, but everything came out beautifully (and deliciously). Alabama stone-ground organic grits are incredible when topped with two fried eggs (sunny side up since the runny yolk makes the grits extra tasty), and a healthy dose (garnish) of roughly grated Parmesan, black pepper, and Maldon salt. It was almost perfect until, in a stroke of genius, added the final two pieces of my applewood smoked bacon from Whole Foods, fried and torn into small bits. This fried-pork addition rounded out the dish and added a bit of hardiness that was only slighly lacking. I hogged the whole thing, though Webb, Franklin, and JP all made comments about how good it smelled. Usually, the generosity gets to me and sharing ensues, but tonight, I was hungry and happy to devour my anti-cold cereal dinner by myself.

PS – I will be making this dish on a regular basis (next time a la garlicy chard, mentioned in the recipe). As an added bonus, it’s also extremely easy, and quick in smaller portions.

Those were the words of one E. Webb Lyons tonight when he opened the door to find snow falling for the second time in DC this year. It’s sticking, and it looks like we’re going to get at least a couple of inches. I wish they would shut the city down…an extra day off would be beautiful. After having stomach trouble since Sunday, my throat started becoming scratchy tonight after work. It’s happened before with no serious consequences, but it can be a sign that a cold is about to set in.

Speaking of cold, the temperature is ludicrously low right now. It was 15 degrees with a wind chill of -1 on my way to work this morning… And no, I didn’t ride my bike. Sometimes, it’s just too cold – and my stomach was still being weird. It’s difficult to remember another day with such frigid temperatures in my life. I mean, it hasn’t been above 32 since the end of last week. The “four season experience” is a bit of a shock, but is kinda nice, in a masochistic way. On the bright (and warmer) side there’s something to look forward to in Spring now!

I’m not sure why food has been on my mind so much lately. Usually, nausea and food don’t mix well, but there is still this inherent urge to cook or bake or do something. Tonight, I made brown sugar cookies and they are AMAZING. Besides taking all of 20 minutes to whip up and an additional 30 to bake in two batches, they are in the running for most delicious cookie baked at 1010 thus far this year. As a side effect, I’m learning some new techniques, and why melted butter in a recipe acts different than whipped butter, and why European-style butter is different than regular unsalted butter. Food science is beautiful .

Ethicurean.com is a food blog Kate pointed me to today at work. There was an interview with the blogger at Grist if I remember correctly, and Kate of AccidentalHedonist.com did a post on it, too. The second post down about Canada’s new food guide pyramid caught my attention because after reading Pollan’s article on “Nutritionism” two weeks ago in the New York Times magazine, I’m in the market for some new food guidelines – government style! Haha. Actually, I was pretty interested in their approach, and how women and men and different age groups receive different guidelines in addition to the general ones. The guidelines play down the need for meats, and encourage other sources of protein in addition to big helpings of leafy greens and fruits. This was my favorite comment from ethicurean:

“Can you imagine the USDA telling Americans to eat tofu? The shit-caked boots of the beef lobby would be firmly holding their necks to the ground within minutes of their typing the words.”

Awesome, just awesome – and true, though I think their necks are already held to the ground while the beef lobby is typing up the guidelines. FYI, here’s the link: Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating

If you don’t read Jenny’s blog, you may have missed her posting of Panda Sneeze, a 15 second clip of…well, just watch it. Jenny has probably seen it more than a hundred times, and is still entertained. In fact, I heard her watching it at least 5 times tonight and laughing each time.

Make sure your sound is on: Panda Sneeze

Yes. Eighty percent of 1010 Euclid writes a blog…now we all have to do it regularly, so I’ll have something else to look forward to reading at night before I go to bed, or during the day when I am able to sneak a peak at the internet at work. Anyway, I’m glad you’re writing a blog now JP, way to jump off a bridge with the rest of us.

I’ve been thinking a lot about being time-poor lately, especially when I’m at work. If you’ve yet to read the post where I talk about people being money-poor or time-poor, scroll down a few and check it out. I’ve even quoted the most important part of the article so you can just read a paragraph and feel extra accomplished. Back to being time-poor…and why work is such a waste of time… On days like today and yesterday, when there aren’t that many people in the store who are looking for wine advice, it is exceptionally frustrating that I can’t be reading the newspaper, or catching up on my economics reading, or thinking about how I’m going to pilfer The Omnivores Dilemma from JP as soon as he’s finished reading it so I can be reading that. I don’t know, it just seems so inefficient to sit in a wine shop when there are other, more important things to be done. Come to think of it, I’m definitely not the only person I know who has that problem. People sit on gChat all day long, waiting for something interesting to happen. Kate reads most of the newspaper…JP stays on CNN.com…Jenny reminds people to close their billing sheets…(wait, that’s work)…Jenny also peruses cuteoverload.com. Webb actually works – that little shit. I suppose homelessness is still a problem in America *sigh*.

When I got home tonight, cooking commenced. I made a big pot of minestrone soup that should feed me and maybe a few lucky others for the next couple of days. About an inch or so of snow, plus freezing rain, is expected to fall on DC and the surrounding areas tomorrow evening and I can’t help but imagine being back in Alabama where everything would have shut down with a hint of a threat of snow or ice accumulating on the ground. If we all got snowed in tomorrow, minestrone could feed us. Ha . I also made some delicious homestyle cornbread. I accidentally added a teaspoon of salt instead of a half-teaspoon, and you can tell, unfortunately. Next time, when I don’t have to worry about bacon frying and chopping vegetables and everything else, it will be more successful. I’m continuing to do well with my plan to eat more naturally and healthfully. Thus far this week, my only meats have been the turkey in the chowder on Monday night and the bacon tonight which I already had in the fridge. I should cook some fish soon, but continue to stay clear of red meat and chicken.

Finishing up the dishes is not high on my priority list right now. Good night.