Boy am I tired…

Well to start with I just want to let people know that I figured out some of what McCain meant by his healthcare policies thanks to my mom. I still need to research but I’m too pooped today. So I feel silly for not having known before but knowing is half the battle. And I know how lame that sounds haha.

I went to the market today and bought a bunch of food. The clerk said it had been so slow and Nathan’s place was slow also…again I think it’s the wind and weather. I was really happy to find that they’re expanding their spice/herb/seed/etc selection and I picked up some poppy seeeds. I swear we spend all our money on rent, food, and computer related items. I must confess though that it is worth it to buy our organic stuff. I used to be a sort of a hypochondriac probably because my mom liked to watch shows about disease/etc and my dad used to think he had all sorts of weird things. Nathan still laughs because for the first few years we were together I thought I had intestinal parasites and that this random hole in my finger was how they entered. We’ve been buying organic for about a year and we both just Love garlic which I’ve read helps get rid of intestinal parasites and is antibacterial in general. I happily told Nathan my findings and he laughed and said maybe that’s why my parasites went away…I suppose it will be a mystery. And although I’m not freaked out anymore that I have a brain tumor (that story is for another day) I do get paranoid about all these health risks so I feel like fresh organic food is helping me stay healthy and fight off the long list of diseases I could get.

I groan about how expensive it is live here but I am thankful that we have access to organic products. The only things that I think might not be organic are some of the flours I buy and items such as the poppy seeds that aren’t labeled. Anyway I rode home with my weighed down bike and I started thinking about how easy it would be to run me over. I usually take the bike paths if I can or go downtown since it’s partially one-way and one lane but I still have to venture out. I read on www.medicinenet.com that 700,000 people die a year from cycling accidents so I think I might start remembering to drop my bike and run if some car crash happens. But I thank my mom for giving me my Santo Nino de Atocha charm which I always wear. I used to have one in my car and he protected me I think..I did get into 2 car crashes but they weren’t my fault and they were pretty minor so I think maybe he helped out. For those who aren’t familiar he is supposed to be Jesus as a child who has helped people in many ways such as people who need food or travelers needing to find the safe path. I also read that he helped miners during an explosion in New Mexico a few hundred years ago. I think it’s funny because he was concerned that people were starving and I worry also about us having good food..so maybe there is a spiritual connection.

Anyway I came home and talked to my mom which is always nice. Oh I forgot to mention she bought me a baking stone/pizza stone!! I was so excited but kind of worried that it didn’t have a note so I had no clue who had bought it for me. I didn’t use it today since I have to clean it but I can’t wait to make pizza later this week. Today, like most of my days, was a big baking/cooking day. I made some Lemon Poppy muffins which smell really great and I hope they taste great too. I kind of mixed up different recipes and used a banana for the eggs so I’m sure it will have a subtle taste in the muffins. I always remember the Seinfeld episode when Elaine has issues with her urine because of all the poppy muffins she eats but they think she’s a heroin addict. Anyway here they are… Mmm I can’t wait until tomorrow. I’m not a morning kind of person so I’m not very motivated to make pancakes or breakfast burritos in the morning. Plus I never want to eat that much when I wake up so I tend to eat toast or eat some muffins while I wake up because there is no thinking involved.

So I decided I’d make Home-made Basil Pesto and French Baguettes for dinner. The last time I tried was a disaster since half my basil was rotten and the pasta was so heavy that I accidently let go of the lid and dumped it all in the sink…that ended up being a pizza night. So I decided I’d try again and the results were fantastic. I should probably mention beforehand that I don’t like to make my life difficult but sometimes the Gods decide I need to learn a lesson. Many recipes, such as pesto, suggest using a food processor to make our lives easier and I must agree it’s a handy tool. Apparently I’m not allowed to have one. The first one had it’s engine blown out because it couldn’t handle my delicious hummus which I claim to be the best. The little guy just couldn’t handle the thicker hummus and I couldn’t imagine making less hummus at a time. The second one was bigger and was doing great but I made a mistake by leaving the base out one day. My birds were in their curious stage where they hadn’t realized which items to chew on and proceeded to chew off all the wires on the processor. Well at least they figured out to stick to paper and their chew toys. The third one was thrown out simply out of my lack of time to deal with cooking while I was in school. Our birds chew on lots of paper so I clean quite a bit and unfortunately they tend to fly by the sink and drop the shredded paper in the sink. So the sink ended up clogged and I was too annoyed to clean the sink so the processor ended up looking like a sewer item after a month or so. This happened during our ‘let’s eat out because it can’t be that much more expensive or unhealthy’ phase. So it seems that the powers that be just think I was meant for a stronger connection to my food, well that’s how I try to think of it.

Coming full circle, I decided I’d make Pesto Pasta and in order to so I did it the good old fashioned Italian way…Mortar and Pestle. It took me about 2.5 hours to make dinner not including the bread which I had started an hour before. I got slowed down because I had to shift out the bad leaves and clean the dirt off and then chop them up plus chop the garlic and pine nuts. Then I went ahead and started grinding it down. It turned out great but I think I’d buy more basil next time. The bread turned out tasty but I need to work on my loaf shaping skills. As you will see they ended up looking like Hot Pockets which is kind of embarrassing. But they tasted good and we’re sitting with full bellies. I’d write more but I’m just too tired to actually think about interesting things. Take care and eat tasty food. P.S. I know I look like some Betty Crocker with that pink spatula but I picked pink because it reminds me of Pepto Bismal. I loved that stuff as a kid and I guess I find the color comforting. Plus I always know where to find it because it’s so bright.