from 4/20/2007

I got to leave work early yesterday, but it was kinda crazy. There was a bomb scare outside of my building. First we were evacuated to another side of the building, then out of the buiding, and then eventually sent home. I liked having the afternoon off (I got home around 3:00 p.m.), but it was a little bit scary. The guy evidently had some kind of torpedo-type thing in his trunk. Some people had seen him load it, gotten suspicious and called the cops. So, they tracked him down, and pulled him over (I guess he didn't want to pull over at first?) in front of our building. So, it wasn't, whatever it was, directed here anyway, but just happened to be here nonetheless. The guy evidently wouldn't talk to the cops, so there were SWAT teams and helicopters and all sorts of madness. The coolest thing about it was that some CMU robot saved the day--it went in to get the "bomb" thing.

So yeah, beautiful afternoon off. I went home, and took Scout for a little spin, and took the K-Bear with us. He is generally scared of bikes, so he wasn't really excited about it. Well, excited about running around, but not being attached to a bike. So, he stayed as far as possible away from the bike (on his leash), and so ended up kind of towing me, or being a brake, at various times. Hopefully he'll get used to it, and start to love the bike/runs.

After that leisurely afternoon I went to another cooking class at Whole Foods last night with Ellen. It was called "Buy the Book - with Chef Lon". He was talking a little about sustainable seafood and organics, and then made two dishes. One was a really simple, but amazingly tasty warm salad. The other was a pasta dish, but it had pancetta in it, so we didn't taste that one. But, the other attendees raved about it, and it smelled good. All in all, Chef Lon was entertaining, but I didn't really learn anything. It was pretty general from an informational aspect. But, that salad was delish. Here's the recipe. I think he said it was from Bon Apetit magazine.

NEW POTATO, CHERRY TOMATO AND GREEN BEANS WITH FRESH BASIL
1 lb new potatoes
1/2 lb green beans
6 oz cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
fresh basil, chopped
3 T. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until tender, about 40 minutes. Keep warm. Boil beans until tender, about 5 minutes. Cut tomatoes in half. Mix all ingredients.

Voila. Simple and tasty. I was still hungry when I got home, though, so I decided to make something quick. I had some grains that I got in bulk last month, and couldn't remember whether it was millet or amaranth (need to remember to label!). I'd never made either before, and they look kind of similar. But, I decided that I was pretty sure it was millet. So, I cooked it up. But, I was wrong! Amaranth! It's weird. It sorta looked like cream of wheat, or maybe coca-wheats since the color is kind of a malty brown. But, you could see the little germ, so it kinda looked like miniature quinoa. But, it was really gelatinous--like when you cook okra. Weird. But, the taste is really nice--a little bit sweet. I made it with savory stuff, but in the future I'd probably just use it as a breakfast porridge.

It's a pretty interesting little grain, though. Amaranth and quinoa are the only grains that are complete proteins. It's also a great source of fiber and minerals (iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous and copper). It's generally prepared as a porridge or toasted and popped like popcorn. I gotta get some more soon and try it like that! It's also a flour, and I just got some to make one of Heidi's recipes for seed-crusted amaranth biscuits. Yum.

I made it with some sliced avocado, tosted pine nuts, and a sauce mix that I made with some Bragg's liquid aminos, raw honey, crushed red pepper and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil. It was tasty. Here it is:



So, for all my talk the other day abut not bringing ice cream into the inner sanctum, and always getting it on the outside, I broke down at WF last night and bought a pint of Woo City toasted coconut ice cream. It is freaking delicious! It's not very sweet, but with a really nice, creamy texture and lots of pieces of the toasted coconut. I made a little sundae with the ice cream, some yellow mango, crushed pecans and hunza golden raisins. It was a taste and texture sensation. It was hard not to eat the whole pint, but I kept it under control.



Since I've quit smoking (it's been a week, by the way!), I'm often overcome with an urge to want...something. Just something to have. So, I understand why a lot of people gain weight when they quit. My little essential oil inhaler thingy helps, as does nicorette gum, but sometimes you have to kick it into high gear and have a delicious treat. I'm trying to be gentle with myself because the stopping smoking is the most important thing, healthwise, I can do for myself. So, the occasional tasty treat will just have to be forgiven.

I'm looking forward to an action-packed weekend! Tonight is Gist Street and then a free concert at CMU (Spoon). Tomorrow there's lots of dykey goodness--an early show at Earthstone, then Operation Sappho! I love Operation Sappho! I really like the dancing.