A Day Late and a Dollar Short

So, I know that I promised a blog post yesterday.  And I also publicly shared my plans to go to the conservatory, among other things.  But here's what happened:  I blew my nose.  Now let me explain.  I've had a bit of a cold for about a week, truly the mildest cold I think I've ever had.  I've had a bit of mucus over-production in the head and that's about the extent of it.  So yesterday afternoon, after getting all my things in order, I blew my nose before heading out.  And seriously messed up something in my inner ear.  I was instantly on the floor, with the room spinning wildly out of control around me while I tried not to vomit.  It took about 15 minutes before I felt well enough to even move and my inner ear parts moved back into some sense of order.  It was pretty awful and I felt nauseous for the rest of the day.  So instead of going on an adventure and stocking the pantry, I laid quietly in a dark room, listening to nerdy podcasts (and eventually falling asleep).

But I promised you some other topics, so here they are.  My new recipe a couple of weeks ago was for a Toasted Barley Asparagus Risotto.  I started by toasting the barley:

I then chopped up some red onion and garlic:

Sauteed it in the pan:

Added the barley and some broth (which I made using the water I blanched the asparagus in: tasty and conservationist!):

And stirred.  And added broth.  And stirred some more.  And repeated, for way too long.  Then I added the parsley and the blanched asparagus and some tomatoes.  And it was good.  But man it took a long time.  I'd start it earlier in the day next time (I think I started it at around 5:30 or 6:00PM, not good planning).

We also ate dinner at BOKA a couple of weeks ago and it was delicious.  We started with drinks and truffle fries.  Now, maybe I just have an underdeveloped tongue, but I (so far) haven't really understand the big deal about truffles.  Maybe someday I will, but for now, I don't get it.  I did have a delicious White Peach Cosmo, however.  Then I had the Rabbit Schnitzel and Margo had the Brick Chicken.  I've never eaten rabbit or schnitzel before (sorry Beth), but it was quite delicious.  It was served with this amazing spaetzle that was rich and caramelized and had brussel sprout leaves in it.  Some of you may know that brussel sprouts are my favorite vegetable of all time.  I love those things.  Margo's chicken was also delicious and came with a tantalizing and creamy celery root mashed potato puree.  Yum yum yum.  We will definitely go back there.  We also had fantastic service, which didn't hurt matters at all.

My most recent new recipe was not a success, I'm afraid to say.  I made (or attempted to make) pita bread to go with my tabbouleh (which is always a success!).  I used the recipe in my Joy of Cooking but had to make a few changes as a result of my inadequate flour supply.  The recipe called for three cups of bread flour, but I had 2 1/4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and some buckwheat flour to make up the difference.  I also declined to knead the dough for the suggested 10 minutes.  My best guess is that, somewhere along the line, between the flour substitution and the inadequate kneading, I failed to develop enough gluten.  I'm not sure why they didn't puff up like balloons as the cookbook indicated they would.

Here is the finished product on day one, piled high with delicious tabbouleh:

At that point, I was still able to wrap it around the tabbouleh with no ill effects.  Here is what happened when I attempted the same maneuver the following day:

An almost unmitigated disaster, I'm afraid.  So I promptly cut the remaining pitas into triangles and turned them into pita chips.  Which are solid and crispy and delicious.

That's enough for tonight.  And I just have to say that this blog post would never have happened tonight if Margo hadn't made me do it.  There are a lot of positive things I might not do in my life if I didn't have her there to nudge me along.  And I'm grateful for where her nudging pushes me, even if I hate it in the moment.