Friday, March 21, 2008

hey, this is one of those day-in-the-life posts!

I'll level will you guys - I am not a friday go-er out-er. I dunno, just doesn't happen! Mind you, mondays and wednesdays and the occasional sat. will find me sloshed or at least pretending to be witty since that's when my favourite people have their days off work. But yeah, that's why I'm posting about beans on a friday night, for the record, no I'm not self-conscious about it!! (ha ha, maybe). I usually make a special dinner and I watch a movie or read experimental lit, drink insane amounts of tea.... post on my blog. The usual stuff. Listen to the hotspot greek restaurant next to my building entertain scads and hordes of polished, smoking merry people peruse their fish and block traffic whilst wearing crazy things like high heels and 3-piece suits. Which is legitimately entertaining, and I'll probably miss the noise real bad when I move. I also avoid doing schoolwork and awkwardly segue into botany with no warning at all....

My tomato sprouts grewed! This is so so so revolutionary since every plant I've ever had has died a horrible shrivelled death, and I've harboured fantasies of a fire escape garden since the day I got one. A fire escape, that is. It's gonna rule so bad! I love these guys and I've added them to the morning routine, getting water right after Satchmo-cat does. I know they're a little crowded, but I'm gonna wait for some 'true' leaves before I try to transplant them. Whatever 'true' leaves are. I read that somewhere. Anyway, I love my sprouts, they're so awesome. They're gonna have radish, green bean, spinach, carrot and parsnip friends, too, and there are some herb seeds next to the radiator just waiting to unfurl their fineness and be all like, "hello! I'm fragrant! yay!"

Oh boy, I'm a nerd. XD

Lunchtime, and there was some crazy voodoo going on with this soup, by the way. I've made black bean soup before (okay, it's been a while), and maybe it was because this time I saved every last drop of luscious bean-gravy that I could - I used half home-cooked beans that I had in the fridge already (plus liquid), and half canned stuff (plus liquid!) but the velvet awesome that this became... hoboy. I just shovelled and felt loved from the inside by thousands of thick happy beans. Does that sound weird? Oh V-con, the things you make me think....

I don't really want to wonder why this happened. Is it natural? Is it hormones? Are a secret race of frankenberries (hey, wait a second...) gonna rise up out of their plastic boxes and start absorbing nearby fruit around to become MEGABERRIES??????

Only my generous grocer will know, I guess. He was selling these for 80 cents a lb. I know! SO making a pie, maybe kittee's pie, which I've wanted for my ownsome since I saw it last summer. (either that or just buy box upon box of strawberries and eat them like it's going out of style, which is pretty much what I've been doing)

And this is an old photo, but to be fair I did finish these tonight so I guess it belongs in a post about friday eatings, right? Yeah, so leftover pickle juice... if you boil cut up vegetables in it until they're tender and then drop everything back in the jar you get badass custom pickles. Which I eat slathered in harissa, it's like reaching in the fridge for a stick of dynamite. :D

And super healthy soup for lunch requires some balance, ne? I had apples to use up. I like crisp (actually of all desserts this IS my youth). So I made crisp for dinner. I tried to not use so much sugar, but the candied ginger really wanted to join the party, and if I was making this for company I probably would have tripled the amount it was so good in there. The apples could have been tarter, but hey, that's what I had, and I don't think the mushy Macs had ever received better treatment than being baked up with almonds and cinnamon and looooove, nope.

*cue the greeks shouting opa! from downstairs*

Yay friday. XD

19 comments:

trina said...

Happy Spring man. I'm very excited for your little sprouts.

Steffi said...

More posts like this :) I'll keep my fingers crossed for the sprouts...

MeloMeals said...

Congrats on your sprouts!! It's awesome you will be growing your own veggie..

That strawberry is HUGE!

Great pickle idea..

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your sprouts growing. =) It's so satisfying isn't it??

Sometimes I wonder what they give those strawberries to make them so damned huge!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

nerds rule & I loooove black bean soup! yours looks better than mine!

Coppe said...

Nerds rock.

Your strawberry frightens me. I actually got a big box of strawberries yesterday, for free. Coincidence or conspiracy???

Btw, I love the bowl in the bottom picture.

Vaishali said...

That black bean soup looks truly delicious! And I love any dessert with apples in it.

Anonymous said...

sprouts look awesome! and for a lady living in the sin city, i can't remember the last time i went to a night club ;) nerds rule! i like pickling veggies, too. what do you usually use?

Unknown said...

I think that looks like a great friday, but then, I'm a total nerd!

And wahoo for tiny baby tomatoes! Andy has just planted some tomato seeds from a rotten market-tomato, so we'll see how they go.

I love love love the bowl your crisp is served in!

BitterSweet said...

Wow, that is one monster strawberry! I can't wait until they're in season over here...

And your sprouts are looking great, by the way!

VeganCowGirl said...

Hey! Really happy to see your sprouts a'sproutin'. My rosemary is doing really well on the terrace...I want to grow the world's first rosemary tree.

I just had to let you know that geeks and nerds are just about the coolest things on the planet.

Have you checked out pixel girl? I thought it might add to your already rocking nerd Friday nights!

bazu said...

I love day in the life posts! First of all, "woah" to that strawberry. I love mutant fruits. Second of all, "yay" to homemade pickle ideas. Third of all, I love the bowl your crisp is in- so cute!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

LOL you always make me laugh. Hey, with bean soup like that, I’d stay home too! There are some advantages to being a nerd. And now I’m off to find some strawberries that you’ve made me crave…

T said...

I used to stay in on Friday nights when I lived alone, but now I live with roomates and they're ALWAYS HERE! sigh. Anyways, I don't think you're weird.

And the food looks awesome- definitely deserved for not killing a plant. Starting off at the seed level is hard indoors!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Aw, your little sprouts are starting to grow up!
That crisp looks so delicious, and the bowl is absolutely adorable!

Oh, and I'm a nerd too, so I feel you.

Rural Vegan said...

In a million years I would not have imagined a use for left over pickle juice, that's awesome! Congrats on your sprouts too, growing tomatoes from seeds is not the easiest task so you should feel proud of those little suckers!

vko said...

Those sprouts are super cute- looks like they are coming up fine, can't wait to see more of them!

And as for staying in on Friday nights, I am all for it.

and pickled veggies with harissa- drool....

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

cute sprouts. growing stuff is so rewarding.
i have a jar of pickle juice waiting in my fridge to do exactly what you did. pickled stuff is the best.

Sarah P said...

that pickle idea is genius!