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10 pounds down 32 pounds to go!

Monday, April 16, 2007

"I'm way off my game. My game's left the country. It's in Cuernavaca."

i've been feeling pretty blaise about this storm of the century business. which you sort of have to be when you live this close to stephen king. every night in maine could be the setting of your very own horror story, bastard and his fab imagination. the weather though, it's not that bad. but there's a state of emergency. apparently it's flooding in portland so the emergency thing is probably fair. here, it's all about the tides which hit their unnatural storm surge highs in about 20 minutes. y'all reckon a nissan can float? i don't usually worry about it because living here you don't really feel like you're on an island. until you start to wonder how strong the bridge is and just how much work did they get done last fall? i do sort of wish i could see the waves coming over the road at hulls cove and it's not even high tide yet (sarah, you reckon the water will reach my old apartment? i wonder).

despite the threats of the weather it was a pretty good weekend. it was a foodie couple of days, but in a good way. i have all these perfectly packed salads in the fridge. very june cleaver if she'd had gladware. i baked cookies and didn't eat them all, served matt chips and didn't have any and didn't even want to. saying no is so much easier when you make it a habit, it's a piece of metaphorical cake after a few weeks. and then i spent every cent of my food budget on extravagant things at the grocery store that i haven't used in years. raspberry dressing for goat cheese salad, sesame oil for all kinds of wonderful things, feta and olives for mediterranean wraps. needless to say i spent a fortune but all for a worthwhile cause. moi.

i've been feeling pretty bored with the grocery store. mostly because i kept my budget tighter than denise austin's ass and didn't allow myself to wander financially, but also it just sort of got old. all those posts other folks write about discovering new foods...that's not me. my mom bought everything, cooked everything, and we all ate everything. star fruit and coconuts and plantains, those weird cactus things i can't remember the name of and fennel and eggplant all the time*. she always had fresh gingerroot and lots of garlic, yum, but then she also liked blood sausage which was one path she walked alone.

with the possible exception of the hot peppers (she didn't do hot) there wasn't anything we didn't experiment with. we, i should say, she didn't want to miss out on anything and she didn't want us to miss out either. even when we were dead broke she would come home with kumquats or braided armenian cheese, some little new thing. i remember stuffing grape leaves after her favorite childhood restaurant closed, we were trying to mimic their recipe, my uncle almost cried** when he tasted them they were so close. she really loved food and it showed, i don't think she would love that that's what people remember most about her. but it wasn't just about food, it was about the adventure and the process and her enthusiasm was intoxicating. i think i was channeling her this weekend, like i was living her enthusiasm.

i haven't had that much fun in a grocery store for a long time. i've been searching recipes all morning. i had a pretty good idea of what i wanted to do with all the food i bought, but now i'm feeling more adventurous. a little less low cal, but enthusiasm waits for no man. or no diet. so i'm going to sneak a few things in. cold sesame noodles first and foremost. i'm thinking i'll use multi-grain pasta for balance, serve it with some stir fried vegetables. i'm looking forward to re-working my menu with a little more ooompf. rowr!




*she loved eggplant, a lot.
**severely bi-polar so do with that appraisal what you will.

4 comments:

i i eee said...

Sounds like your childhood was very flavorful. I like that.

Amy said...

that's a lovely way of putting it, she'd have liked that.

i i eee said...

By the way -I'm never too busy for DTFMMLF! ;)

Amy said...

dude, do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out my own blogs initials? pathetic. my brain retired and moved to florida and died it's hair blue, such is my reality. and you really are an internet junkie. i'm SO glad not to be alone!