This is not so much a recipe as what i did for dinner tonight that turned out really well.
1 small eggplant, cubed and salted
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp curry powder
4 leaves fresh basil, bruised and chopped
handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
some neutral oil (i like coconut or canola)
16 oz reduced sodium butternut squash soup (i used the Pacific foods one)
pinch of sugar
salt to taste
In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat the oil, and saute the onion, garlic and ginger.
Add the tomatoes, eggplant and curry powder once onion becomes translucent. Stir well and cook for a bit, watching to make sure the eggplant doesn't dry out the pan (shouldn't happen if the eggplant was salted, but you might need to add a tinge more oil).
Pour in the squash soup and add the basil and sugar. Cook on medium low, covered, for about 15 minutes.
Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
I ate this as a soup, but you could make it drier and serve it over basmati rice.
I think *everyone* should make their own hummus. It tastes so much better than store bought and doesn't have gross additives and such. Here is the recipe I use:
1 can chick peas (15 oz) - rinsed and drained
1/4 c EVOO
1/4 c water
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c tahini
1 medium clove of garlic, minced
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste (I know many people use cayenne, but i just used freshly ground mixed peppercorns)
Put it all in a food processor and process until smooth. Takes less than 5 min to put together if you've got all the ingredients. Chill in the fridge for half an hour or so before eating. Yum!
If you want to be really hard core, you could use dried instead of canned, but this makes the process take much longer and therefore it is significantly less likely that I'd do it.
You can supposedly use peanut butter if you don't have tahini, but I've never tried this and am skeptical about the flavor keeping.
I hate being afraid of bugs, I really do. I recognize it as objectively irrational, but still cannot calm the terror that wells up inside me. I've said it before, but I always feel compelled to reiterate. This is not a girly "ew, gross!" type of thing... I get very worked up when people imply I need to just "get over it". Oh trust me, I've tried. I've begun breaking down the fear a little, realizing which situations/bugs/etc cause the reaction more strongly and which I can talk myself down from. This has helped a little, but sometimes the bugs still best me.
If you want some background reading here is a link to a post from last Feb about a similar run-in.
Before I left for Chicago, I had a run-in with a Palmetto bug in my apartment. I was horrified and terrified and had no idea what to do. I was talking to myself (out loud, probably) and telling myself... "There is a thing that rational people do in this situation. Regular people don't have a panic attack right now. I am an adult. I live on my own. I have a great job. I pay my bills and keep two cats alive. There is something to do in this situation. Now... what is it??" I eventually got through it (with the aid of a couple friends on the phone and a Dyson vacuum cleaner), but it took like 2 hours of my life. Ridiculous.
Today was almost worse. There was an upside down palmetto bug on my kitchen floor that I believed to be dead. I was sort of avoiding dealing with it so walked by it several times (in large arcs) thinking "later". One trip past though caught my attention because I thought I saw it twitch. Sure enough, I looked again and it was wriggling trying to turn itself back over.
*breathe*
I got my Raid in hand, shooed the cats away and sprayed with what might have been a little too much wild abandon. Bug killed dead. As advertised. But now I have poison all over my floor and a dead, wet roach. I lock myself and my cats in my bedroom and try not to think about it.
This isn't an effective long term plan since i do eventually have to let my cats out and I have to clean up all the poison before I can do that. Anyway to make a drawn out and stupid story less drawn out (but no less stupid), I come to realize that even though the bug is drenched in poison and I KNOW it is dead, I still can't get near it.
I ended up scooting a paper bag on the floor with a swiffer stick along until it half scooped it up, and got it out of the wet-with-Raid area, then put a bucket upside down on it. Then I cleaned up the Raid and let my cats back out. I'll deal with the bucket later. Or I'll hire a maid.
Brilliant.
Anyway, here is my highly scientific list of what makes my run-ins with bugs worse.
1. Contained spaces. Being inside (even inside a large space) is always worse. Being inside my *own* space (my home or to a lesser extent, my office) is on the more extreme panic attack version of the scale.
2. Things that fly at me. Or run toward me. Especially in a spastic manner. I have yet to be afraid of a roly poly. I'm even not afraid of spiders. They're smart, they keep to themselves or run away. Thumbs up to snails and caterpillars. Biiiig thumbs down to cicadas, palmetto bugs, flying crickets, grasshoppers, june bugs and bees.
I have learned that my current nemesis, the Palmetto bug (aka fucking huge flying roaches) flies at people because they believe people to be trees (and they live in trees when not scaring me to death in my home). It is comforting to know they aren't trying to attack me, but I do doubt I will be able to remember that rational fact next time I am faced with the situation.
3. I do not think that bugs are gross. I do not wish for bugs to be dead. I just want them to be alive, away from me. Or I want to be alive, away from them. If I am able to, I will catch them and release them outside. If someone else is dealing with it for me, I strongly encourage them to do the same. Still sometimes, it is inevitable and while it does actually, um, bug me to kill them, sometimes I just have to move on with my life.
4. Body mass and exoskeletons. If they have weight when they hit me or make a crunch that can be heard and really felt when crushed, I will have nightmares. 'Nuff said.
5. Ears. Please, bugs, stay away from my ears. Even the smallest gnat can send me into a panic if I hear it buzz right next to my ear.
6. Nighttime. I can deal with everything better in the daylight. Even if it's inside, I can still deal with it better if it is daytime.
I think my point is that I need to move somewhere that doesn't have tropical insects.
Guess who I got to spend today with???
Would you rather be rich or famous? Why?
Submitted by Chris Vaughn.Posthumously famous. People who are famous in their own lifetimes lack class.
A recent study suggests that radiation from cell phones may cause cancer; what, if any, cell phone usage precautions will you take in light of this information?
Submitted by Tim.I shall continue to not own a cell phone.
According to IrishLuckyLass's vox it's self portrait Thursday today. The only recent shot I have of myself wasn't really meant for public consumption. It was taken so Britt could see my new glasses. so now you guys get to to see them, too! Aren't you lucky.
This photo wasn't really meant to be shown at all. I just took it so Britt could see my new glasses. Because she asked nice. And since I found out that Thursday is apparently self-portrait day thanks to IrishLuckyLass... here it is.
Show us a bird native to your habitat.
This is the only type of bird that can survive in my office space.
We went to Parker Park beach today, and saw this guy fishing. He caught that about 3 meters offshore. Huge ugly fish.
