Packing a Suitcase

Packing a suitcase can be very satisfying when you know just what you want to take and everything fits in neatly.  Unfortunately, that's almost never the case.  I tend to get myself all worked up when packing for a trip because I'm always starting later than I should have, usually when I've got three other things I'd rather be doing, or things that I need to get done ASAP.  Agitated as I am, I then grow even more indecisive than usual, agonizing over which shirts to bring or how many extra pairs of socks constitute reasonable backup, and how many are unnecessary weight.  I usually find that I've forgotten to wash a garment that would be the perfect thing to bring, or have forgotten to buy something I'll need, like dental floss.  Typically I'll try for a while to pack, lay out piles of stuff, then take a break to play guitar, eat ice cream, watch TV, or go bother my housemates.  Then it's back to packing.  Eventually it always gets done, but by that time I'm utterly exhausted and unable to properly get excited about the traveling I'm about to do.  It's really too bad, but all the frustration and anxiety goes away the next day as soon as I'm on the road, boarding the plane, or lifting anchor for new adventures!

Mortar and Pestle and Garam Masala

I told myself this wouldn't happen, but I knew it would.  I've fallen behind in my blog posts.  Fear not, though, for I'm catching up tonight with two posts.  First, making Indian food from more-or-less scratch, which I did last night with a lovely lady ducky (you can tell by the kickin' hair bow).  It was not only simpler than I'd thought it would be, but also even more fun than I'd hoped.  And cooking together is an excellent way to see how compatible two people, *ahem* or ducks, are.  I'm pleased to say we got along swimmingly in the kitchen.  We toasted spices to intensify their flavors and ground them in a mortar and pestle to use in a masala sauce.  We coated chicken in a yogurt sauce before broiling it, cutting it up, and adding it to the sauce.  We crushed garlic, plucked cilantro leaves from the stem, and grated ginger up the wazoo.  And it ended up absolutely perfect.  The chicken was tender and not at all overdone, and the sauce was flavorful and just spicy enough.  Mmmm!  And we were just going from a recipe off the internet.  It's inspired me to branch out more in my cooking.  Culinary adventures, here we come!

Desperation Dinners

I called this post "Desperation Dinners," because I'm a sucker for alliteration, but I prefer to think of them as "adventure dinners."  You know the kind, where you come home after a long day and open the cupboard to find nothing you're looking for and a bunch of ingredients that don't really go together.  For some people, that would mean it was time to go shopping.  For me?  It's time to get creative.  And that's how I end up eating things that I could never in good conscience serve to anybody else: scrambled eggs over rice with sardines on top, sandwiches with nothing but cheese and mustard, microwaved frozen veggies over spaghetti with hot sauce, and so on.  I honestly and truly do not mind these concoctions, but I will admit that they're not usually meals I would choose to repeat.  Tonight I had a perfectly respectable swiss cheese and mushroom omelette with some of the aforementioned frozen vegetables on the side.  And unlike this duck, I am careful not to leave things on top of inactive burners on the stove.  Fire safety, people.  Good luck with all of your future adventure dinners!